The Legend of Zelda: Faith of the Ancestors
by allen.bair
Summary: Rodney McKay and Daniel Jackson are accidentally thrown into Hyrule and must help Link's son John avert a civil war before Hyrule is plunged back into chaos. Contains crossover elements from The Legend of Zelda, Stargate: Atlantis, and The Lord of the Rings and is the third and final part of my Ancestral Ring series.


The Legend of Zelda:

Faith of the Ancestors

by

Allen Bair

2014

Chapter 1

The light flared across the broken clouds beginning to glow golden and fade as the sun dropped below the horizon. It had rained earlier that day, and the air still felt moist, cool and clean. In the Nabooru Town square below, the shops began to close up for the day as a town custodian went through the square bringing the electric street lamps to life. In the center of the town square stood a statue of the ancient Gerudo Sage of Spirit for whom the town was named.

The prince regent of Eastern Hyrule, Talon, watched the calming scene quietly from the balcony of the fortified governor's citadel. His mind had been occupied mostly with reports from the different towns and villages of the half of Hyrule which his mother had entrusted him to govern, but there was also the recent event which had involved only his mother, brother, himself, and the Sages, Hyrule's "religious leaders." He bore no ill will towards his brother. John had been his best friend all of his life. But he did wonder "what did the Sages see in him, and not me?"

People had compared him to his father all of his life. With the exception of his untamed flaming red hair which was his mother's gift to him, he, like his twin brother, was the spitting image of his father, Link, the celebrated Hero of Hyrule who had died saving their land when Talon and his brother John were only five years old. That had been twenty years ago. It seemed like forever and a world away now.

"Your highness," the nasal voice intoned, "surely there has been some mistake, you are the oldest are you not?"

"We are twins, Grima. I am only older by a matter of minutes." Prince Talon responded. Their mother had positioned them both as prince regents of the two halves of their land. John governed Western Hyrule, while Talon had been charged with the governance of Eastern Hyrule which lay across the Hylian Sea from the mainland.

"But certainly your Queen mother wouldn't have elected to choose the younger son, would she?" The older man asked. He had been Prince Talon's chief adviser for only a year now, but he had quickly gained the prince's ear on all things.

"It was not her choice, Grima. It was the Sages who named my brother crown prince and heir to the throne." He responded. The ceremony had taken place in the ancient Temple of Forest, dedicated to the goddess Farore in honor of his father's "mother." It was the first time in the history of the Royal family such a choice had to be made between two siblings to determine the royal heir. When the choice had been made, his brother became the heir, and he the spare, with no explanation as to their choice. "When the Sages speak, even Hyrule's sovereign must bow to their wishes." The prince then attempted to return to his private musings on the subject.

"Why?" Grima asked, and Talon felt like a bullet had been fired at him. The question seemed so innocent, yet the implications of just asking the question were disturbing.

Talon thought for a minute. He had never asked the question. It had always been just a part of his and his brother's life. He then answered, "Because the Sages represent the will of the goddesses to the people. They keep the legends and histories of our people, and guard the entry to the Sacred Realm."

"So then who truly rules Hyrule, your highness? Her majesty, or the Sages?" Grima responded.

Talon said nothing in response, but the question stung and bit at him. He just continued to stare down at the statue in the middle of the square. In the western sky, the sun dipped completely below the horizon, and the darkness began to consume the remaining daylight. "The Sages speak for the goddesses. They know their will and interpret it for us." He said, but even as he said it he found himself unconvinced of the answer. What is happening to me? He asked himself silently.

"Forgive me, your highness," Grima said meekly, "but can a group of mortals really know the will of the gods, or do they merely claim to?"

Talon turned from his view of the town square to face his adviser. He was at least forty or fifty years older than the prince, Talon thought. His long silver hair was tied back neatly in a simple ponytail, and he wore a long, well combed silver beard as well. He was not Hylian, but from one of Hyrule's outlying provinces. Ordon, maybe or perhaps he was from one of the other countries which lay across the sea. He then began to realize how little he actually knew of his adviser. "Where are you from, Grima?" Talon asked him.

"My homeland is a great distance from Hyrule, your highness. I only traveled here shortly before I entered your service." Grima answered smoothly, his words seeming to dispel all interest by the prince in his origins.

"The history of my country is a long and complicated one, Grima. But throughout that history, the Sages have always watched over Hyrule, and been its guardians against the Demon King alongside the Hero and the Princess." Talon said.

"It is not the great Sages of the past, nor the role of your heroic father or royal aunt, your highness, that I question." Grima told him. "But in my experience it would be a mistake to assume those who sit in their seats today are the same as those great ones of the past, or that in such times as these they themselves have the best interests of your land in their hearts and not their own. I have known a great many such guardians of religious truth that when it came down to it were more concerned about maintaining their own political power over the people than the true divine will." He seemed so sincere, so paternal in his concern.

The prince turned this over in his mind, and immediately the thought of the choosing in the temple came back to his mind. His brother had been chosen over him by the Sages alone, and no one had questioned it. "So then you believe their anointing of my brother is a political move; that they believe him a more easily influenced puppet to control to maintain their own power over Hyrule and the monarchy?" Talon asked uneasily.

"That is more than I said, your highness." Grima replied, removing his spectacles innocently and cleaning them with the edge of his tunic.

"Perhaps." Talon said, his mind beginning to fill with thoughts he had never considered before. He turned back to the town square, which was now quiet. The blue uniformed night watch guards patrolled the town's streets, the gold royal crest of Hyrule, the winged Triforce, emblazoned on the back of their long coats, rifles held at the ready on their arms.

Talon's mother, Queen Malon, was a wise, strong, and courageous ruler. She had guided Hyrule through the darkest moments of its most recent history after the death of her sister, Princess Zelda, and the Queen's husband Link, Hyrule's Supreme Military Commander. Their kingdom had emerged stronger for it. She was the one who gave us the new vision for the future, he thought to himself, and guided us back into the arms of the Sages and the old stories. Is she herself being held by old ideas and old systems which don't apply in this new world she led us into? He wondered. How could I not have seen it before?

"What would you have me do, adviser?" Talon asked the older man.

"Perhaps it is not my place..." Grima began to say.

"And if I say it is?" Talon stopped him. "What should I do?"

"You are the prince regent of Eastern Hyrule, your highness. We are all at your command." Grima told him obsequiously.

In another reality worlds away, in the depths of a shining city floating on the sea, hidden from the rest of the world...

"So, you're saying you do make more than me?" Rodney asked indignantly. Atlantis base's chief scientist took issue with its head archaeologist's implication, regardless of the fact that he was the one who brought up their pay scales.

"No, I just said that our paychecks reflect the size of the contributions we both make to the ongoing stargate research, that's all." Daniel said in a quick save. The truth was he had no idea how much Rodney got paid, but he hoped it wasn't the seeming pittance he found automatically deposited into his checking account in the small Colorado bank branch each month by the U.S. Government. Granted, on Atlantis he got free housing and food, but still, with everything he'd given and sacrificed for not just the stargate program, but for the planet as a whole, they could have shown just a little more financial love.

Somewhat mollified, Rodney brushed that part of their conversation aside and continued his investigation of the lab which had been "rediscovered" deep in the bowels of the city, going over it with a notebook jotting down occasional observations. It had actually been discovered and cataloged way back in the Pegasus galaxy when Atlantis had sat atop Lantea's ocean waters several years ago. But when its function couldn't be determined after a few days, it had been quickly forgotten and ignored for more promising and easily understood labs. But now, the Ancient lab was back on McKay's radar for one very specific yet obscure reason which only a few years before wouldn't and didn't turn his head twice. Etched into one of the side walls was a metallic relief of three triangles joined together, two at the base and one at the top, to form a single larger triangle.

Daniel Jackson had agreed to assist him in his research only because he had some downtime right now, and no major projects of his own which he could do anything more with at the moment, and because Woolsey stopped just short of ordering him to. Rodney could be a "difficult" man to work with, and he didn't actually have a huge amount of interest in McKay's "videogame research" except that he had personally met two of those characters from the game some three years before at another research dig in an Ancient abandoned city beneath a volcano in the New Mexico desert (that was a research site he wished he was still at, but the Airforce and the I.O.A., the two organizations that actually signed his paychecks, had other ideas). That had been a unique experience, and Link and Zelda had been likable kids all things considered, if you could call them kids.

"So what exactly are you hoping to accomplish in here Rodney?" Daniel asked, his eyes scanning the otherwise spartan and unremarkable room. He wanted to add, and why exactly do you need me here? But he didn't. Years before, Rodney had been ordered to assist Daniel in what he thought was a worthless investigation. That turned out instead to yield a previously unknown secret lab and a wealth of new research and data. Daniel had enough class to keep from whining at Rodney's tangents, knowing and respecting the man's brilliance, if not always the man himself.

"Okay, so I've been trying to figure out the damaged Triforce Shepherd brought back. The description, logs, and notes on it are in the public database, but when I try and search any deeper," Rodney explained, "unlike the key blade, I can't find anything on how to actually build one, much less repair the one we've got."

Daniel folded his arms and stared at the triangle symbol on the wall trying to understand its purpose. He knew it represented the Triforce, or at least a Triforce, the mystical triangles from the _Legend of Zelda_ video game series that when combined together would warp the fabric of reality itself to make whatever a mortal wished for happen. Right now, he sincerely wished for something more interesting to do than listen to Rodney complain and stare at the walls.

There wasn't much else to distinguish the room except for a very few consoles and Ancient computer monitors which were now powered up and spitting out readouts in the blocky Ancient script. The only truly unique part of the room to distinguish it from the rest of the labs in the city was this symbol etched into the coppery metal.

"So what exactly does the Triforce do again that makes it so important?" Daniel asked, continuing to try and understand the meaning of the symbol he had been staring at.

"Essentially, it's a belief amplifier." Rodney explained.

"A what?" Daniel asked.

Rodney stopped what he was doing and looked at him to try and explain it further, "Remember how the Ori got their power from the faith their followers had in them?

"Yeah, I do." Daniel answered. Only too well, he thought. He had been forced to deal with it far too many times.

"Okay, well this device sort of works on the same principle, except it takes the belief or faith of the person touching it and amplifies it to bend the fabric of reality itself around the object of that person's belief. In short, if you wish for something and believe in it, it will make it happen." He finished. "Each piece of the Triforce centers around a specific virtue, power, wisdom, and courage, which amplifies the belief and therefore the presence of that specific virtue in the person who carries that piece. It's when all three are put together that the really big, reality bending stuff happens. The Ancients created it as a defensive device against rogue ascended beings. Kind of like arming us lesser beings with the potential power of an ascended being as a 'mutual deterrent' kind of thing."

"Yeah, we could have used something like that a few years ago." Daniel quipped.

"Tell me about it." Rodney agreed. "Anyhow, if we can repair the Triforce of Power, or better yet, create our own since this one's more or less on loan; then the kinds of things we could do with this city and our research would be practically limitless."

Rodney then came over to stand next to Daniel. "Near as I can tell that's just a wall decoration." He said, gesturing to the symbol in front of them. "There's no writing, and nothing else to mark it as anything else."

"Yeah, probably. I've just found too many walls with decorations that wound up being clues to something bigger." Daniel then reached out his hand to feel the surface of the etching.

Rodney reached out his hand too to trace the lines of the triangle. "Yeah, I wish it led to something like a..." He had begun to say flippantly, though deep down he had sincerely wished it led to the research he was looking for. At the same time, he also wondered how Link's kids and wife were getting along and wished he could see them the same way Colonel Shepherd, Atlantis' military commander had the year before.

The triangles of the symbol glowed with a golden light which became more intense and flashed around them. Then a bright wave of energy consumed the both of them, and the Atlantis lab was empty.

"Danny? What the hell just happened?!" McKay shouted. It was pitch darkness around them, and they were both disoriented and nauseous. "Did the power go out?" He then called into his bluetooth communicator, "McKay to operations, what's going on?" There was no response.

"You try!" Rodney told him. Daniel, feeling like he was going to see his last meal in reruns, slowly spoke into his own communicator, "Daniel Jackson to Atlantic base operations, come in please." He also received nothing in reply.

"Why aren't they answering?!" Rodney shouted.

Daniel hated it when McKay called him "Danny," so it didn't help his mood much. "I don't know!" He shouted back. "Why do you think I would know?!"

Just then a soft blue light began to illuminate the room they were in, and it wasn't the room they had been standing in before. Around them could be seen stone walls, sculpted columns, and a few Ancient computer consoles that were covered in a thick coating of dust.

"I think I know why they're not answering now." Daniel revised his last statement.

"Oh, that's not good," McKay said. "Okay, just let me get my bearings, get a look around and think." He said scanning the room around him. "Oh boy, we're in trouble." He announced shortly.

"Why? What do you mean?" Daniel said, then he also began to look around. "Oh my." He said.

"I don't think we're in Kansas anymore, Danny." McKay told him, pointing at a sculpture in the corner of the room. It was of three women holding three triangles in such a way to where they formed a single triangle. Each woman had been carved with a sash that held a name in a script not that much different from Ancient. They were names McKay knew all too well and in their own language, "Din, Nayru, and Farore." He read them out loud.

"You know where we are?" Daniel asked him. "Don't you?"

"Oh god, I hope I'm wrong." Rodney answered. "Because I have no idea how to get us back this time."

That wasn't good news. As far as Daniel knew, much to everyone else's consternation, Rodney was rarely wrong.

"How do you think we got here?" Rodney asked, holding his head.

"Isn't that usually your area of expertise, Rodney?" Daniel answered, trying to move slowly to keep himself from throwing up.

Rodney threw him a dirty look and said, "Just humor me."

"We touched the symbol on the wall together, you said 'I wish..,' the triangles glowed gold and then the whole world around us changed." Daniel said.

Rodney tried to process those facts through his headache. Then a light went on in his head. "Wait a second. Are you telling me Atlantis has had a working Triforce this entire time?" Rodney asked in disbelief. "And we didn't know about it?"

"Well, it's not like anyone ever looked for one before now." Daniel pointed out, holding his own head, and blinking several times trying to get the spots out of his vision.

"Yeah, but still!" Rodney said in exasperation at all the lost opportunities.

"Focus, McKay! We've got more pressing problems right now!" Daniel told him, losing his patience.

"Right. You're right." Rodney said, looking around the room trying to take in all the data it was giving him.

"So where are we then, Rodney? You act like you know this place." Daniel said, trying to take in his surroundings in the dim lighting as his eyes adjusted.

"Well, I would think the statue would pretty well give it away, don't you?" Rodney asked, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Okay, let's pretend I have no idea what you're talking about." Daniel told him.

"You really don't know?" Rodney asked, beginning to comprehend. "Wow. Well, we've got to be in Hyrule. That's the only place I know of that would feature a statue with the three goddesses and the Triforce inside a creepy stone room."

Daniel took a look around. "Hyrule? You mean like Link and Zelda's Hyrule? The video game Hyrule?"

"Yes, the video game Hyrule! Try and keep up will you, Jackson?" Rodney snorted.

"Don't get mad at me if I've had more important things to do with my time than play video games!" Daniel shouted back at him.

"And I haven't?!" Rodney shouted back, looking like he was about to have an aneurysm. "I just had the great luck of having to be stranded here against my will for six years of my life!"

"Okay, okay," Daniel conceded. "I'm sorry. I just never got around to reading the mission reports you and Colonel Shepherd filed when you got back." That was true enough. His own workload was so full, he never had the time even when he had the inclination.

Rodney began to calm down and think. He looked around the room again, trying to get a better sense of it. He then began to snap his fingers and said, "I think I've been here before, actually, in this building."

"You have?" Daniel asked with surprise.

"Yeah, not this room specifically mind you, but this place with Link years ago, or maybe we're here now because of the whole time travel thing. Anyways, we were looking for a linking book back to Earth. I'll bet a week's pay this is the ruins of what they called the Great Palace in Eastern Hyrule." Rodney pronounced. "It was a huge abandoned fortress when we visited it. I think Link once told me it used to be the royal palace in the most ancient of times or something like that."

"Okay. That's a start. So, how can you tell," Daniel asked.

"I can't say for certain, but the design of the chamber kind of looks like it. Each palace tended to have its own architectural style because they were all built in different time periods of Hyrule's history. I guess their taste in interior decorators changed over the millenia. This really reminds me though of the Great Palace."

"Well, that's good then. At least we now have some idea where we are." Daniel said hopefully, "And how to find our way out, right?"

"No, that's bad, I just remembered" Rodney said. "The Great Palace is a maze with no logical order. Rooms don't fit together where they're supposed to. It's almost like there's an extra dimensionality to the place. It took Link and I forever to comb through the place and that was with his 'other memories' as a guide. I have no idea where in the palace we could be."

"Well, then we take a good look around and try to figure it out." Daniel said. "There aren't any windows, so we're most likely in an interior room, or underground. What else can the room itself tell us? Let's start with the carving. You recognized the three women, right? You said they were three Hylian goddesses, right?" Daniel asked. "You said three names. Uh, what were they, Din..?"

Rodney picked it up for him, "Din, Nayru, and Farore. They're supposed to be the three ancient goddesses that first created Hyrule and then left. It's a pretty common depiction in Hylian art, except..." Rodney said looking at the sculpture more critically.

"Except what?" Daniel asked.

"Except they're not usually depicted so lifelike, like real people." Rodney said. "They're usually more streamlined, or more abstract forms."

"Okay, so maybe that's significant." Daniel said, trying to reason it out. "Roman art and Greek art are pretty similar to one another except that Greek art is more idealized, whereas when the Romans started making statues like the Greeks they carved them realistically showing all the flaws of the subject." He walked over to the statue to inspect it more closely. "Rodney, correct me if I'm wrong, I know it's been a while, but didn't Link and Zelda have pointed ears, and high cheekbones?"

"Yeah, they're a real pretty, elvish kind of people, why?" He asked as he also got a better look at the statues. "Wait a minute, these don't look like Hylians at all. Look at the ears, they're rounded like ours, or like the..."

"Ancients." They both said together. Daniel then added, "You said they were Hylian goddesses. Why would a Hylian carve their goddesses to look like a human or an ancient, especially if they'd never seen a human?"

"There are some folks with rounded ears like ours in Hyrule. Out in Ordon province where Link grew up, they look pretty human there." Rodney pointed out, trying to remember. "But that still wouldn't make any sense to make them look so realistically human. Unless..." Rodney's mind started shifting into high gear.

"Unless what?" Daniel asked.

"Unless they were carving images of real people." Rodney said. "That would make this room one of the oldest in Hyrule."

Daniel looked around the chamber again. "Rodney, go stand next to one of those computer consoles for me." He asked him.

"What, why?" Rodney asked.

"Just humor me." Daniel said.

"Okay, fine." He said as he walked the few feet to stand next to the console.

"There, happy?" He asked, gesturing with his hands on his hips. Then the console next to him came to life, and a holographic projection of a computer monitor appeared in the space above the console.

"Oh, wow." Rodney said. "It's responding to my A.T.A. gene. This isn't just an ancient room. It's an Ancient lab." Rodney said.

"Yeah, I was kind of leaning that way myself." Daniel said, trying to keep from smirking.

Ignoring him, Rodney went to work at the console trying to understand what the monitor was telling him. "Hey, would you give me a hand? My Ancient's not as good as it should be." He told Daniel, who came closer to the monitor and began to read the lines of text in front of him. After a few minutes, he pronounced, "well, I think you got what you wished for, Rodney."

"What I wished for? What do you mean? When did I wish to be transported into another reality with you next to me?" Rodney protested.

"You wished to find the Triforce lab. Right before we ended up here." Daniel said.

"I did? Yeah but... but I didn't... I mean... Oh no." Rodney said with comprehension dawning.

"Yep. This is Din, Nayru, and Farore's Triforce lab." Daniel told him.

It's an honor I don't want, John thought to himself, as he lay on the green lawn and watched the stars that night in the courtyard of Hyrule Castle, his childhood home. They were bright through the fast disappearing clouds, and the constellations danced and fought their ways across the heavens for him. He could see his father in those stars fighting the Demon King from ages gone by. "I wish you were here, father." He whispered.

It had been only a few days since the ceremony in Farore's temple. Would it be wrong to consider her his grandmother? He wondered. His father was known as the "son of Farore," so why not? "Why me, grandmother? Why'd you have to tell them to choose me? Talon's the responsible one. And he the oldest." He asked out loud. He received no answer back. He didn't really expect one. She was a goddess after all.

"Your highness?" A familiar deep masculine voice called out. John tried to ignore it.

"Your highness?" The owner of the voice, Hyrule's Supreme Military Commander, came closer.

Fine. John thought. "Yes, Oliver, I'm right here."

"Of course, your highness." The mustachioed older man came to stand next to where his crown prince lay on the grass looking up. Oliver's eyes followed his prince's upwards. "I wouldn't have thought earlier today that we'd be able to see anything tonight. I'm glad I was wrong." He said.

"Care to join me?" John asked him.

"I'm afraid not your highness, I just had these trousers cleaned, and I need to stop in and see your mother, her majesty, before I turn in myself. I only wanted to see where you had gotten to." Oliver's voice then filled with a more paternal concern, "You haven't seemed quite yourself since you returned from the Kokiri forest. Is everything alright?"

John sat up slowly on his elbows. Oliver had been a good man and a good friend for most of his life, in many ways he had been a surrogate father to him. "Why me, Oliver?" He asked him. "Why did they choose me? I don't want to rule. I'm supposed to be governor over all of western Hyrule and I didn't really want that. My brother's better suited for it. He's the one the people really look up to. I would gladly give him the crown."

"I don't pretend to understand the mind of the goddesses, your highness, or those who speak for them. But the Sages must have chosen you over your brother for a good reason." Oliver then crouched down next to the younger, flame haired man who looked so much like the Hero of decades before. "It was a great shock and surprise to me when Colonel Shepherd, a man who had been a hero of mine, recommended me to fill your father's considerably large shoes. For a long time I couldn't understand why when there were braver and better men than me. There are times I still question his wisdom."

"Oliver, you've been one of the bravest, most dedicated soldiers Hyrule has ever known. My mother has often told me how much she has relied on your courage and strength in guiding our land, and how she didn't know how she would manage if you weren't by her side." John told him.

"Yet I have never felt brave, your highness, or strong. I am only a soldier, and I only do what I know the best way I can. The goddesses don't choose those who believe themselves the strongest or the bravest or the wisest. They know better than that. They choose those who are willing, humbly, to serve with all that they have and not give up. Your grandmother, the goddess Farore, or perhaps the Lady Hylia herself must have seen something of your father in you for the Sages to have made that choice." Oliver explained.

"My grandmother..." John repeated, feeling strange at thinking of one of the goddesses of Hyrule's creation in that way.. "Sometimes I wish she would tell me what she wants from me plainly, and not be so mysterious."

"We all wish that, your highness. But then maybe if she did, there would be nothing left for us to learn on our own." Oliver said, then stood up to leave. "Have a good night, your highness. Don't stay up too late. You wouldn't want to miss breakfast again tomorrow. The kitchens are preparing pumpkin pastries."

John chuckled. "And you as well, Oliver." Prince John responded in kind. As Oliver turned to leave, he added sincerely, "And thank you."

The older man gave a more relaxed salute to his prince, and left him to his stargazing to find his queen indoors. The electric lights of the halls seemed very bright to his eyes and he rubbed them vigorously from the sharp pain after his eyes, having adjusted to the dark outside, protested.

There were two, gray uniformed castle guardsmen posted at the entry to the wing of the castle wherein lie the royal apartments. He stopped to ask them of the queen's whereabouts.

"Her majesty has been in her private chapel, sir." One of the guardsmen replied. "She was going there only half an hour ago."

Oliver thanked the man and strode towards the chapel at the far end of the castle wing where the royal residence lay. His own apartments lay in a different part of the palace, but near enough to where he could be present in a hurry when called upon. He paused as he passed the sealed private chambers of the last Supreme Commander, the Hero of Hyrule. He gave a small, personal salute with nodded head. It was his own particular practice of respect, acknowledging that he could never replace the great man who had fallen. He had taken up the role of protecting, and even nurturing where he could, the Hero's family in his absence. It was, in his mind, an unspoken promise he had made to the Hero to take care of them, all of them, not just as a matter of his profession, but also personally.

His silent devotion finished, he continued down the stone hall adorned with protraits of the Heroes and Royal monarchs of Hyrule's long history towards the small chapel dedicated to all the gods and not any one god or goddess of Hyrule in particular as the great temples were.

The chapel was a relatively recent addition to the castle, commissioned by the queen herself not long after she ascended the throne. It was adorned with devout icons and images denoting each of Hyrule's deities including the Lady Hylia, and a small alcove where a portrait of the Hero sat. No electric lights had been installed in it. Feeling that they detracted from the sanctity of the place, the queen insisted that candles be kept lit in honor of the divine presences. Up high and around the walls of the chapel were stained glass images of the stories of Hyrule's creation, the incarnations of the Hero and the Princess Zelda, and of course the Sacred Triforce was etched, carved, or painted everywhere one looked.

As Olive quietly entered the sacred space, he spied the long, soft ginger braid of his queen kneeling at the front altar in prayer. Not wishing to disturb her, he piously took a seat in one of the small wooden pews and inclined his own head to prayerfully gather his thoughts. In the quiet of the chapel he could not help but overhear her words.

"I wish you were here." She said. "It has been so long, and I still miss you terribly. I don't know how to counsel our boys now. They both appeared to accept the Sage's decision gracefully, but I know John. He doesn't want it. Talon said nothing, but he seemed so distant after the Forest Temple. He said everything was fine, and he was content with his position. Maybe it is just a mother's intuition, but something doesn't seem right. Please, my love, give me some counsel on how to speak to them both. Could the Sages have made a mistake? Have you ever known them to make mistakes?"

She continued for several more minutes before rising and turning towards to entry door, the soft glow of the candlelight reflecting off of her face, giving her an otherworldly divine glow. Except for the few silver streaks which now ran through her hair, he could not tell that she had aged a day since her coronation twenty years ago. Great goddesses, she is a beautiful woman, Oliver couldn't stop himself from thinking. Of course it was a sentiment he would never voice openly to anyone, not the way his mind and heart meant it.

"Oh, Oliver! I'm sorry, I didn't know you were there, forgive me, I was just... I was just..." She searched for the words to describe what she had been doing.

Oliver spared her from having to go any farther. "No need, your majesty. I didn't want to interrupt your evening devotions." He said as he rose from his seat to stand in front of her. It hadn't been the first time he had found her like this, though her eyes always lit up in embarrassed surprise when she finally realized he was present. He wondered if it had become something of an unspoken game between them. "I just wanted to check and see if you required anything before I turned in for the night myself."

"You're always so kind to me, Oliver." She genuinely smiled, almost girlishly, and it was his joy to see that smile that he had never seen her show anyone else for as long as he had held his position. She fidgeted with her hands as she spoke to him. "Have you seen John tonight?"

"His highness was in the courtyard watching the stars," Oliver told her. "He was still in a mood about the Sages' choice. I wasn't entirely sure what to say, so I told him the truth, that the goddesses must have seen something of his father in him to make the choice they did." His tone of voice changed, and became more gentle and familiar than he would have ever used had they not been alone. "He will be fine, my queen. He's grown into a good man, as has Talon. You've done well in raising them both."

"We've done well, Oliver." Malon replied. "I couldn't have raised them without you there to guide them. Thank you for that. Thank you for always being there for us. I don't know what I would have done if... if..." She stopped herself, realizing that she stood only inches from him now. She was then surprised to find her hand had gone to his arm in an affectionate touch, and she quickly pulled it away and down, looking confused and furiously fidgeting with her fingers again.

"Of course, your majesty." Oliver said, knowing it would never, and could never go farther than this. That was the pact and the promise he had made. "I will always be here for you... and for the boys." He whispered loud enough for her to hear, and no one else that might be passing by.

"Good night, Oliver." She replied back to him, a small smile still on her lips, but fear and confusion in her eyes. "Sleep well."

"And you, your majesty." He gave a slight bow, taking her hand in a chivalrous manner, gently and chastely kissing her fingers as he did with every other "good night." And then he left the chapel for his own apartments

No one would have considered it an inappropriate gesture. Many of her ministers and avowed lords and knights did the same thing on a daily basis. But as he walked away, her heart felt betrayed and vulnerable. It was uncomfortable, and there were times she wished he wouldn't be so chivalrous. But not once had she ever stopped the brief brush of his brown and silver mustache against her fingers. She didn't know why, and she wouldn't allow herself to examine her own feelings in order to learn.

After about an hour of perusing the files, Rodney pronounced, "Dammit."

"What's wrong?" Daniel asked, after translating a few things for Rodney he seemed to be able to pick up the rest on his own so he took some time investigating the rest of the room. It was relatively small for a lab. It was only about thirty feet by thirty feet by Daniel's estimate. It did house a couple of Ancient computer consoles, as well as a set of devices that looked painfully similar to the ones he himself had used under the Ancient Merlin's guidance to build the sangraal device used to destroy ascended beings. Not that he could use them now for anything. This equipment, he knew, could only be used by someone who was pre-ascendent.

"All the data's here. Everything we need to build a Triforce is right here in this room. We could build one right now and wis ourselves home if we wanted." Rodney said.

"But?" Daniel asked.

"But," Rodney continued, "it requires either a real Ancient or an ascended being to do it. As marvelously evolved as my particular brain is...," he paused, not seeming to want to finish the sentence.

Daniel finished it for him tactfully. "It requires a being who is capable of ascending to operate."

"Yes, thank you. Or someone who's already done it." Rodney added, trying to wrap his head around it. "I mean, if I could just take the data with me and upload it into the device we've got back in Atlantis I could write a program to do it for us like I did with the sangraal jewel, but I've got nothing to take any of it with us except my notebook and pencil, and even I can't memorize every single precise placement of every molecule of this thing. I mean this takes complexity to a whole new level."

"So, no getting out of here by wishing our way back." Daniel concluded.

"What? Oh yeah, uh... no. But," he continued hopefully, "there is a map of the building in the database that should be easy enough to follow as long as we follow it exactly, and don't make too many assumptions about three dimensional space."

"Oh good." Daniel said. He had stopped wondering how he found himself in these kinds of situations a long time before this. "Any ideas of where to go for help once we get to the outside?"

"Well, the only other place I know of that can get us home is the Temple of Time in western Hyrule. We'll just have to hope Impa, or whoever the Sage of Time is now is in a good mood." Rodney said.

"Well, I'm encouraged." Daniel retorted.

Chapter 2

Talon sat on the marble seat of Nabooru's Citadel throne room under the carved relief of the Triforce and Hyrule's goddesses. It was not a comfortable seat, and it was a rare day when anyone would have found him sitting in it for any length of time. Today however, it served as his seat of judgment for the two figures standing before him.

The hands and feet of a seemingly young, yellow haired, green and brown clad Hylian boy, and a lithe, brown skinned woman of flowing red hair and bright green eyes in white robes had been bound in chains and brought to Nabooru on his orders. Both had peacefully tranquil expressions on their faces which unnerved the prince regent and those in his court who witnessed the proceedings. Standing to either side of the pair and behind them were blue uniformed guardsmen.

Talon said nothing to them for a long time, but just continued to stare at them long and hard. He had rarely ever seen the two Sages, though his last encounter with them had only been a short time before at the ceremony in the Temple of Forest where his younger brother had been chosen over him. The Sages of Earth and Wind were known as the most reclusive of any of Hyrule's temple guardians, remaining in their temples and playing their sacred instruments in worship and prayer to their gods.

"May I ask the reason for your request of our presence, your highness?" The younger looking one, the Sage of Earth, asked with only the faintest hint of sarcasm in his voice.

Talon had been about to answer the Sage when Grima intervened, saying "Do not do him the dignity of an answer, your highness." Grima, who stood to the right of Talon's throne, told the prince. "You are the one asking the questions."

"Indeed," Talon answered his adviser. "This is my court, Kelvin. I will speak when I am ready to speak." He turned his attention to the boy whom he knew was older than himself in front of him.

"No one questions whose court this is, your highness," the woman said, "only for what reason you have so politely asked us to join you." Her sarcasm was not so well concealed.

"You will be silent until the prince regent has given you permission to speak!" Grima told her forcefully.

After several more tense minutes, Talon finally addressed them both sternly, "Kelvin, Sage of Earth, and Narissa, Sage of Wind, I hearby charge you with treason against the royal family of Hyrule, and therefore treason against the Kingdom of Hyrule itself. You have attempted to influence the royal succession for the sake of maintaining control of the Sages over Hyrule's sovereign ruler. I will not allow the sovereign authority of the monarchy to be usurped by a group of recluses who are rarely seen."

The Sages seemed to quietly ponder this declaration, and made no answer. The faces of the guardsmen surrounding them became like stone as they heard the charges leveled against their prisoners.

"Do you have nothing to answer these charges?" Talon asked.

Narissa then spoke up, and politely addressed the prince, saying, "If it is usurpers you are searching for, your highness, you need not look so far as the sacred temples when such people can be found even in royal courts."

Kelvin then spoke up and said, "We would only warn you of those who would truly be a danger to Hyrule, your highness. And now that we have, it is time for us to return to our temples."

And with that, the two Sages disappeared in a burst of light, the chains that bound them falling empty to the marble chamber floor..

"Guards! Search the Citadel! Find the traitors!" Talon called out in anger and frustration, balling and unballing his hands.

"Was it my imagination, or did they accuse you of treason, your highness?" Grima asked his prince.

Talon said nothing, but sat pensively in silence, hands folded under his chin.

"If the two Sages of Eastern Hyrule are capable of such manipulation, is not the whole of Western Hyrule in danger from their influence, my lord?" Grima pushed him. "Is it not your duty as the Hero's son, and the rightful heir to the throne to protect Hyrule from such poisonous treason?" He then added, "What would your father, the Hero of legend do, your highness?"

After another long and painful silence, he answered, "He would save Hyrule."

"Can you do any less, my lord?" Grima asked.

"Captain!" Talon shouted out. Within seconds, a blue uniformed man with gold insignia of high rank stood before him, "Yes, your highness." He answered his prince.

Talon didn't hesitate. "I want artillery pieces moved to within range of the Earth and Wind Temples. Load them with explosive shells. Raze the Sages' temples to the ground."

"Of... Of..." The Captain couldn't believe what he had just heard, but his discipline as an officer wouldn't allow him to question it.

"Do you have a problem with my order, Captain?" Talon asked menacingly.

The Captain summoned his courage, straightened himself up, and said, "No, your highness. It will be carried out to the letter."

"Dismissed." Talon told him, and the Guard captain moved quickly to carry it out.

At Talon's side, Grima nodded approvingly.

The mood in the Nabooru soldiers' barracks was grim. Every guardsmen knew within hours what their brothers in arms had been ordered to do, and what had transpired within the citadel throne room. There were some who carried small, golden replicas of the legendary Triforce on chains around their necks as a religious devotion and remembrance of the three goddesses who created their beautiful world. Many clung to those gilded pendants in silent prayer for guidance.

No one in the royal family had ever given arrest orders for a Hylian Sage in Hyrule's ten thousand year history. Ever. It was unthinkable. It was an atrocious deed worthy of the hated Ganondorf of Hyrule's dark past. It went against everything the men knew and believed about their world and their relationship to the divine. The orders to destroy the temples... That was something not even the Demon King himself had done.

"It isn't right, what he's done, Captain!" One guardsman complained too loudly to his commanding officer. "He'll bring down the wrath of the goddesses upon us all!"

"He's the son of the Hero, and nephew to the Princess Zelda herself." His captain responded, "If anyone would speak for the divine, wouldn't it be him?"

"I'm just saying, captain. It's wrong, and I'm not the only one who thinks so." The guardsman said, looking around to his brothers in arms for support. A few nodded and murmured encouragingly.

"Now listen," The captain told him sternly, and then he turned to include all of his men, "and this goes for all of you. Prince Talon is regent of Eastern Hyrule until his Queen Mother says otherwise. That means he speaks with her authority! If he gives an order, it means she has given an order! And if she gives an order, it means the Lady Hylia herself has given that order! Is that understood?!" He yelled at them.

"Yes, sir!" They all shouted back, uneasily.

"Good! I don't want to hear any more about this. Is that understood?" He yelled.

"YES, SIR!" They responded in unison, many of them holding their golden pendants tightly.

As the captain turned to leave, he then whispered quietly under his breath, "And may the goddesses forgive us all." His hand drifted to the triangle shape under his own uniform tunic.

The journey out of and from the Great Palace was not nearly as difficult as Rodney imagined it would be. The room they had found themselves in had been an interior room, but not deep below in the labyrinthine maze. "How did Link and I not come across it before?" He had asked aloud at least twice.

Closer to the main hall, the two stumbled upon a small, forgotten chest of rupees, the standard currency of Hyrule. "These will definitely come in handy." Rodney had said upon their discovery as he counted the jewels of various colors. All in all he had counted about a couple of hundred rupees worth of jewels.

The big surprise to them had come when they had finally made their way down the mountain path, and found a small village and train station, the tracks of which stretched off in either direction. "That certainly wasn't here the last time!" Rodney had exclaimed. "Jeez, that would have been nice when Link and I had come this way."

"Okay, so we know we're here some time after that then." Daniel said. "I mean, this is obviously a pretty small, out of the way village, and it takes some time and investment to build a train system so they would have started closer to the capitol, right?" He reasoned out.

"And the capitol's on the other side of Hyrule, so this would have been one of the later stations and stretches of track." Rodney continued the train of thought.

They had gone into the village and bought passage on the evening train through the mountain passes to Nabooru Town, the provincial capitol in the central valley of Eastern Hyrule. Along the way, from the windows of their car, they observed the smaller towns and villages lit up by electric lights as the train made its stops.

"I don't see any obvious power lines, I wonder how they're generating their power?" Daniel had observed.

"They didn't have any of this. I mean, I knew I left my journals, and had gone over a few designs with my assistants, but to do all of this? It has to have been decades at least." Rodney exclaimed.

When the train finally pulled into Nabooru Town later that night, they found the nearest hotel they could find and rented a room with two beds. "Well, I've been in much worse accommodations." Daniel commented. "And the hotel's got a place to eat downstairs too. At least we won't starve."

"Yeah, I hope you like pumpkins and milk." Rodney responded. "At least they're not big on citrus."

"I'll keep that in mind." Daniel returned. "So, what's our next move?"

"The Temple of Time's in the Faron Woods in Western Hyrule south of Castle Town." Rodney replied. "We're going to have to find a way west and across the Hylian Sea, but things look like they've changed so much, I have no idea what we're up against anymore."

The next morning, the two wandered through the busy market square of Nabooru Town. It was filled with vendors hawking their wares in stalls and storefronts. There were townspeople of all kinds from very normal looking humans, to the elvish Hylians, to huge brown rock like "people" looking through the vendor's wares for deals. Around the cobblestones of the square ran carriages and horses.

The two wore traveler's cloaks and simple Hylian tunics and breaches they were able to acquire cheaply earlier in the morning from a tailor. The cowls of the cloaks were pulled over their heads. While there may have been non-Hylian humans in Nabooru, they saw no reason to draw any more attention to themselves then they had to.

"Wow, things have gotten really built up since the last time I was here." Rodney said, looking around at the large number of brick buildings. "Electric street lamps, a train system, it seems almost like Victorian London." He gestured towards the blue uniformed Hylian guardsmen on patrol, rifles at their shoulders. "Are those revolvers they're carrying on their waists?"

"Pistols as well as swords." Daniel observed. They passed by a bright red royal postal box with a pink rabbit's head emblem as they walked. "Yeah, I was expecting something a little more medieval from how you described it." Daniel said. "But it's been what? Thirty years for them since you were last here?" They had pretended to be from some country across the sea called Holodrum that Rodney knew of. The innkeeper, not seeing that as unusual the night before, after a little careful prodding and Rodney's translating, had filled them in as to when in Hyrule's history they were. "If our own history tells us anything, a lot of progress can happen in thirty years. Especially when you give them technology they didn't have before."

"Yeah, I guess so. But I wouldn't have imagined all of this before. I mean, these people were smack in the dark ages when we first got here." Rodney said. "They had to have built factories, and took my notes and ran with them."

"Well, I guess you made a difference then." Daniel said, not sure if that was such a good thing.

"Wow. Yeah, I guess I did." Rodney said, memories of his "improvement" of the people of "Geldar" years before passing through his mind. "That didn't turn out so bad." He thought out loud to himself. "We just had to stop them from killing each other." Then thinking better of it, "Okay, never mind."

"Did you say something?" Daniel asked him, looking at a newspaper printed in Hylian. On the front page was the photograph of a strange looking pair, a young hylian boy and a dark skinned, silver haired woman bound in chains between two intimidating looking soldiers.

"No, nothing." Rodney denied. "What do you have there?"

"Well, I'm not sure as I can't read the language. It's too different from Ancient." Daniel said. "But it looks like a newspaper."

"A newspaper? Seriously? They've got the printing press now? Let me see that." Rodney took the paper from Daniel's hands. "Oh wow, that's not good. That's not good at all."

"You can read it?" Daniel asked.

"Six years here, remember? You think I didn't bother to learn to read the language?" Rodney retorted. "Of course I can read it. But no, that's all wrong. It says that two Sages escaped from the royal guard's custody yesterday when they were being tried by Prince Talon." Rodney looked at Daniel, "It says they were being tried for treason against the crown."

"Who are the Sages?" Daniel asked.

"They're like Hyrule's religious leaders. They run and guard the temples and sacred stuff, but they've always been loyal to the royal family. This doesn't make any sense." Rodney said.

"Well, times change and so do people," Daniel responded. "Even religious leaders can go bad." How well he knew that.

"In our world, maybe," Rodney said, "but the Sages are different." he then continued to read through the front page article. When he finished, he read it again and said, "Oh no. That's definitely not good."

"What's definitely not good?" Daniel asked.

"Talon's given orders to destroy the Sages' temples; both of the Sages' temples in Eastern Hyrule." Rodney said, distressed.

"Rodney, is the Temple of Time in Eastern Hyrule?" Daniel asked.

"No, but how could that happen?" Rodney asked. "We need to find out more."

The two passed by a vendor's booth filled with trinkets. Daniel stopped to look. The most prominent things for sale were different sized gold pendants shaped like the Triforce. "Huh, that's different." Rodney commented, and went over to investigate the offerings. "I've never seen Hylians wear replicas of the Triforce openly before."

"It's a devotion our dear queen began at the start of her reign, young man." An aged voice spoke out. "They serve as a reminder of where we all come from, and what we aspire to be."

Behind the booth sat three older women whom Daniel could see had been handsome in their day. Traces of their beauty remained in their easily worn smiles and bright eyes. Their heads were covered with different colored scarves. The one immediately in front of him wore a bright blue one with an ocean wave pattern. One of the other women had a green one with a forest leaf pattern. The third woman's scarf was colored red in a flame pattern. Daniel smiled in greeting, knowing he couldn't understand their speech but trying to be friendly anyway. The woman in blue motioned him over away from Rodney's hearing, behind the vendor's stall. Looking around to see who might be watching, he then followed where she led.

"I sense great balance within you, my son." The old woman addressed Daniel as Rodney was busy checking out the trinkets on display at their stall and others. He didn't seem to notice the old lady at all. She and the two other silver haired and wrinkled women turned their attention to him as if almost a single person.

Daniel turned to her, smiled and looked in her eyes beginning to say, "Thank..." And then was stopped by the old woman's gasp as she stared _into_ him. He felt like she was probing his very soul through his eyes. He then realized something else, she spoke to him in English. "How...?" He began to ask.

"You have walked among the gods, Daniel Jackson." She announced to him in a quiet voice so as not to attract unwanted attention.

"How do you know that?" Daniel asked her slightly alarmed, but not choosing to argue or deny it. He dropped his original question. He sensed something different about her as well, though not threatening.

"I can see many things, young man. I have walked this world for many, many long ages." She said cryptically. "You and your companion have a great, and difficult journey ahead of you. Before it is done, the fate of our world may depend on the balance you have brought. I sense great untapped faith within you.."

"How?" Daniel asked.

The old woman brought out one of her pendants which had been attached to a gold chain from somewhere behind her, although Daniel couldn't see any more of them when she moved. "Please take this to protect you and your companion. You will find it may prove more valuable than you realize. Only use it when the time is right. The fate and future of all of Hyrule depends on it."

She held the chain up with both hands and gestured for him to incline his head. He did so and she slipped it over his neck, carefully hiding the pendant beneath Daniel's shirt where it couldn't be seen. She then pressed the pendant against his chest with the palm of her hand and he felt a soothing warmth radiate out from it. "Yes, I sense much faith, much goodness within you, my son. You will not fail us."

"Who are you, really?" Daniel asked.

"You know who I am, Daniel Jackson." The old woman replied. And as Daniel looked more intently at her, he did recognize her, or at least a younger version of her etched in stone in the palace they had arrived in. "Nay..." He began to say, and she stopped him with a raised palm. "No need, child. I know my own name, and so do you."

"I thought you didn't believe in interfering with the affairs of mortals." Daniel said, sceptically.

"We are not interfering, my son. The choice is yours to make, just as it is for all of our children. I have only given you the wisdom and the power to act on that choice. It is up to you to find the courage within yourself to make the right one. But I know it is within you." She said. "I have seen it."

"But I'm not one of your children, am I?" Daniel pointed out. "Why me?"

"No, you're not." She said wistfully. "You are more of a long lost brother, cast out because of your great compassion and empathy for people. It may surprise you that this is a trait we share in common, and for that reason we trust you above those who would not understand the power we have entrusted to you."

He considered this, and the responsibility she had charged him with. He then asked, "How will I know when the time is right?" He wasn't sure if he wanted to believe what he now knew was happening.

"You will know when the time is right, Daniel Jackson." The old woman said. "You must, or the sacrifices which have been made will have been for nothing."

"I understand." He told her. And in some strange way which he didn't fully comprehend, he did.

The old woman then looked at him again intently, placed her palm against his forehead and spoke several words in a language which sounded very familiar to him, but which he hadn't expected to hear offhand here. She then told him, "You may now speak openly with our people, but take care. Not everyone in our world will be pleased to see the two of you."

"We will." He said.

She then added in a whisper, "When the time comes once more, as it must for every mortal, you may choose to walk among us again if you wish. I restore to you that choice, my son. Now go, your companion is coming. He is a good man, but he is out of balance. He must not know."

Daniel nodded, "I understand." And then he stood up to greet Rodney.

"Find anything interesting?" Rodney asked.

"Nope, just chatting with these nice young ladies here." Daniel responded, gesturing to where the old women had stood.

"What young ladies?" Rodney asked, confused.

Daniel turned around to find the vendor's stall empty as though no one had been there all day. "They must have run off..." He said slowly, looking around.

"Yeah, well you have that effect on women." Rodney quipped. To which Daniel gave a dirty look. "Let's go. I think I know where we can find out more of what's going on."

As they walked away, Daniel felt a strange tingling in his left hand. Unseen and unnoticed, a set of golden triangles had been lightly traced across the back of his hand, and then disappeared.

It was mid-morning, and her majesty, Queen Malon, sat in her seat in the council chambers listening to her ministers drone on about the state of the kingdom. Her flame colored hair, flecked with silver had been done back into a thick braid, the crown of Hyrule resting comfortably above it.

The Council of Ministers meeting was a ritual that she held once every two weeks to ensure that she was kept up to date with Hyrule's daily grind. Her sister, so many years before, had only held such councils once a month, but with as fast as Hyrule seemed to be changing and progressing, Malon saw the wisdom in keeping a closer eye.

To her right, sat Supreme Commander Oliver, to represent the military. To her left sat the Prime Minister, an aging and portly man, who, despite his appearance, was very competent and had a gift for keeping the other ministers on task. The various other ministers sat in the chairs on opposite sides of the long tables. At the other end of the table sat her son, the crown prince. As he yawned for the fourth time in twenty minutes, she sympathized. She had to stifle one as well. But this was the business of rule, whether you wanted to be anywhere else at the moment was irrelevant, and she did her best to impress that on her twenty five year old son.

In front of most of the participants at the table sat delicate porcelain cups of strong tea on matching saucers. There had been three silver platters of pastries arranged on the table for the government officials at the beginning of the meeting, but these had been emptied a half hour before and not replenished. Oliver had declined his cup of tea, as she knew he would in favor of just plain water. John had as well because he preferred a fruit juice in a tall glass in the morning. The other ministers had drained their cups by that point in time, as had she.

The one minister whose presence Malon noticed the most, was the one who had been strangely absent all morning. Where is Talon? She wondered. The seat of the Prince-Regent of Eastern Hyrule, at the right hand of the crown prince, had been empty all morning, and no one had seen him enter the castle the day before, as was his usual practice, either. He had never missed her Council meetings before.

As the minister of education finished his lecture on the progress of the construction of the new Academy of the Sciences in Kakariko Town in Eldin province, Malon found that she couldn't stifle the next yawn that happened. "Oh, pardon me, minister!" She said apologetically. She then yawned again. "Oh, I'm sorry. How rude of me." She said, embarrassed.

"It is quite alright, your majesty. I'm feeling a little drowsy myself," the minister of education told her, "I move for us to recess until... until..." The minister's head then dropped to the table.

"Minister! Are you alright?" Queen Malon called out. "Minister..." She yawned again. "Are... you...?"

"My queen?" Oliver asked as her head began to move dizzily from side to side. Concern gripping him, and he said with much concern, "Your majesty, are you alright?"

The crown on her head began to feel very, very heavy, and then her head pitched forward, hitting the table.

"Malon, no!" Oliver shouted, jumping to his feet. Across the table, John jumped up as well, yelling, "Mother!"

Her crown rolled off of her head, across the table and then veered off with a "clank!" as it hit the stone floor. One by one all the ministers jumped to their feet, only to find themselves collapsing onto the floor. Only Oliver and John remained on their feet, John running to his mother's side and Oliver trying to rouse her.

"GUARDSMEN!" Oliver shouted at the top of his lungs. "GET THE HEALERS! NOW! RIGHT NOW! WATER OF LIFE IN THE COUNCIL CHAMBERS! RIGHT NOW!"

Everything after that seemed to be a blur because the next thing John knew, he was on his knees next to his mother. Oliver was at her side opposite him holding her hand and calling her name softly, "Malon? Malon, wake up!" All semblance of protocol forgotten.

Within minutes healers in white coats flooded the room carrying bottles of a viscous red liquid. They quickly paired off going from person to person beginning with the queen, gently parting their lips to administer the miraculous Hylian medicine.

John and Oliver watched as the healer dripped the special red medicine known commonly as "water of life" between the lips of the deeply sleeping queen with an eyedropper. The two men had moved her carefully out of her wooden seat to the stone floor of the council chamber, her head carefully pillowed by Oliver's balled up uniform coat. The queen reflexively swallowed the liquid, but she did not wake up. Other healers around the room moved among the fallen ministers with similar results.

"Why isn't she waking up?" Her son asked.

"I don't know yet, your highness. So far she and the ministers are just asleep. I'm working off the assumption that they were poisoned by something in what they ate or drank." The dark haired Hylian man in the white coat told him.

"Poisoned? Why? Who?" John asked. He couldn't think of anyone who would want to harm his mother. She had been dearly loved by all of their people. Across from him, Oliver's face became stone hard as he grappled with the implications and his own building rage. "Who would do this to her?" His voice felt raw and strained as he spoke the question.

"The two of you are the only ones who did not drink the tea," The healer replied, pointing to the water and juice glasses that stood in contrast to the tea cups.

"We didn't eat the pastries either." John said, remembering. "I wasn't hungry after breakfast, and Oliver doesn't like them. They're too sweet." They seemed like such insignificant details, but they meant the difference. He was still awake because of the extra helping of pancakes in the kitchen. It seemed absurd, but it was the truth.

The healer nodded. "It could be a spell of some kind too, but I've never seen one like this cast that would have missed the two of you at opposite ends of the table and hit everyone else." The healer went on. "So the logical conclusion would be a poison, or some kind of potion in the food."

Just then the sleeping minister of education began to convulse violently. The healers who had been administering the medicine to the fallen officials rushed to his side to medicate him as well. His convulsions became so violent that they couldn't get the medicine into his mouth. He then stopped moving at all and exhaled his last breath. As the healers faced the shock of his loss, checking his pulse and any signs of life they knew of. Two more officials, the ministers of agriculture and technology began to convulse as well. Within minutes, they were confirmed dead.

"Goddesses save us." Oliver said on his knees as he looked at the face of his queen with concern, his eyes beginning to water. The healers watched with dread as they knew she would be the next to convulse, followed by the other ministers. Seconds went by, and then minutes, but those afflicted all remained peacefully asleep, with no change.

"Keep the water of life going on them!" The lead healer called out. "Constant dosage! Every ten minutes! It may be the only way to keep them alive. Asleep, but alive." He then turned to Prince John, "Your highness, I don't know how long or even how often we'll need to keep dosing them. I'm going to need every bottle of red and blue water of life in the castle, and as much as we can get from the town. We need to keep administering it for as long as we can until we find a way to counteract it. If you've got a hidden cache of Fairy's Tears, now would be the time to tell me."

John looked to his mother as he knelt next to her, holding her hand. He didn't respond.

"Your highness, I need royal authority to authorize taking Castle Town's medical supplies." The healer said urgently. "Please your highness, with your mother... like this, you are now our sovereign until we can bring her out of this."

A shock of panic ran through John's body. He didn't want it. His mother was the sovereign. She would always be his sovereign. He closed his eyes and forced the panic down. This is what I was born for, he told himself. He then looked at the healer and nodded, "Do it." He managed to say. The healer immediately handed the bottle of red liquid and eyedropper to another healer to take his place, and went to make it happen.

"Oh, mother." John said, bringing his lips down to gently kiss his mother's hand. "Who could have done this to you?"

"I have received a dreadful message for you from the telegraph device, your highness." Grima approached Talon as the prince regent was inspecting the guardsmen training in the Citadel grounds.

"Oh? What now?" Talon asked.

"Your queen mother and her royal ministers have all been poisoned, your highness. Only your brother, and Supreme Commander Oliver escaped. Your brother, Prince John has requested that you return to Hyrule Castle at once." Grima's said with some urgency.

"Poisoned?! By who?!" Talon whirled around to face his silver bearded adviser. He felt as though someone had punched his stomach. "Mother... Of course, I must go."

"Of course you must, your highness. Only I would not recommend you go alone." Grima said, grave concern filling his words.

"It is my childhood home, Grima. Why wouldn't I go alone?" Talon said as he forgot his troops' inspection and began walking rapidly towards his personal residence to make his preparations. "I should have been there anyway. I might have prevented it if I had just gone to my mother's Council meeting like she requested. Instead I was here having to deal with rebel Sages!"

"The awful question occurs to me, your highness, who profits the most from your mother's illness, and goddesses forbid, her death?" Grima asked.

Talon stopped in mid-stride. "What are you saying, old man?" He asked angrily.

"Think, your highness!" Grima said, more aggressively. "I ask you, who is left to rule the kingdom with your mother and her ministers gone? Who were the only two at the Council meeting who did not fall to the poison? I don't want to be saying this, your highness, but you know the answer."

Talon couldn't believe what he was hearing. His own twin brother, and Oliver who had always been like a father to him after his own father had died... What was happening? It was unthinkable. "No... that's not possible. They would never..." He protested.

"The evidence speaks to the contrary, your highness." Grima said, his voice oozing fatherly compassion.

Talon felt dizzy, his mind couldn't reconcile it. His hands went to his head to support it, and without warning he screamed into them, "Aarrrghhh!"

All around him guardsmen rushed to his aid. "Your highness!" They shouted as they reached him. "Your highness, are you alright?"

"No." He said, straightening himself up. His eyes were red and puffy as he uncovered his face. "No, guardsman, I am not alright." He said calmly, but with steel. "Hyrule is not alright. My mother and her ministers are not alright." Anger built up within him, a rage which would not be easily contained. "Send for the captains of my legions." He told him.

"Yes, sir." The guardsman obeyed and ran to find them.

"So, my brother want me to come home immediately, Grima?" Talon asked, menace in his voice. "Then that's exactly what I will do. I will go home and make things right."

Chapter 3

The passenger car of the train they rode in away from Nabooru Town wasn't as smooth as the one they had taken to it. It didn't necessarily help that the car was packed full of uniformed guardsmen heading towards the seaside town of Westport. Talking freely didn't seem to be an option for them, and so they sat mostly in silence for the two hour trip.

Their last day in Nabooru had been spent walking around the town and casually trying to learn as much as they could about the world they were now traveling through. Daniel's academic curiosity was fascinated at the sights and the people. "I could write whole books about just this town." He had told Rodney as he was trying to take it all in.

"Check out the local GameStop store in Vancouver. It's been done." Rodney had quipped, reminding Daniel of the unique nature of the world they were journeying through. "Okay, I've seen enough of this place, anyway." He said, thinking in disgust of the other day's newspaper. "We should start thinking about how to get to the Temple of Time from here, on the other side of Hyrule."

"Well, what's the chance of there being a train to the coast?" Daniel asked.

"Probably pretty good. Westport used to be a pretty major seaport between Western and Eastern Hyrule, I don't see why that would have changed. The trick is going to be hiring a boat to take us across."

"One problem at a time. Let's check out the trains." Daniel said.

"Right." Rodney answered.

When they arrived at the train station, that was when things began to not look so good. It was jammed with blue uniformed, armed Hylian Guardsmen. "Officers." Rodney noted from their rank insignias, "and a lot of them going to Westport."

"If these are the officers, where are the enlisted troops?" Daniel asked before they boarded the silver and blue colored train.

As they rode the train and watched the countryside out through the windows, they got their answer. The train had flown by thousands of troops marching in formation on the road in the same direction they were heading. Daniel and Rodney had looked at each other, eyebrows raised in alarm. Along with the marching troops were cannons and artillery pieces being drawn on wagons by horses.

"What is going on?" Rodney whispered to Daniel. "Are they at war with someone? Why didn't we hear anything about it?"

One the guardsmen, a lieutenant by his rank overheard Rodney's question, and answered it in a quiet voice so that he wouldn't be overheard. "War indeed, sir. It's a dark day for Hyrule, that's for sure. Goddesses forgive us."

"What's happened?" Daniel asked in a whisper.

"Prince Regent Talon is sending us to Western Hyrule. He says the queen's been poisoned, and his brother and the Sages have been blamed. He wants to raze all the temples and 'bring the Sages to justice.'" The officer answered, shuddering. "I knew John when I was a raw recruit. He's a good man. Loves his queen mother just as much as Talon. Doesn't care a whit about ruling though, not like his brother. It doesn't make any sense." He shook his head. "It's not right, sir. A lot of us don't think it's right, but we've got our orders. He'll bring down the wrath of the goddesses on us all before he's through." He pulled out a triangle pendant from under his shirt and held it tight in his left hand before quickly returning it to its cover.

"Oh god." Rodney said quietly. None of them spoke the rest of the trip.

John sat by his mother's bed as the healer changed the bottle for the next dose of red water of life. He hadn't moved from her side since the previous morning. His appetite had left him, and his eyes were red and bloodshot. He tried to force them open every time they tried to close on him, but several times throughout the day and night he found himself dreaming of a silver haired man laughing at him from the darkness.

Oliver stopped in at her room to check on her, and John, every hour. Every time he asked the healers about her condition, and every time he left the room with a dark, anguished look in his eyes which he could not and did not give voice to.

The queen had been carefully moved to her private chambers and laid on her bed where the healers had given her constant attention. Her lips were stained red from the medicine being dripped into her mouth. The healers had set up a simple machine that fed the red liquid through a tube to where it dripped into her mouth. She remained sleeping peacefully, but no better.

Another minister, who had been accidentally overlooked, missed a dose and had succumbed to the convulsions hours before. Efforts were redoubled by the healers to keep the medicine flowing to the afflicted. Water of life supplies were dwindling in the castle, and more had to be taken from Castle Town's hospital to keep the treatments going. Hospital alchemists worked round the clock to prepare more. The healers had never seen anything like it. A legacy concoction from their ancient past distilled from a certain mushroom, the water of life cured any disease, poison, or illness, normally. It had been known to mend broken bones, and bring those on the verge of death back from the brink. Right now, it was the only thing that stood between the queen and a convulsive death.

"Your highness," the healer, his white coat stained with red from droplets of the medicine, addressed John gently. He was an older, grey haired gentleman who had cared for the royal family for years, and John since he was a small boy.

The prince looked up at him, not responding otherwise.

"Your highness, you need to get rest yourself. You have not slept for over a day. Hyrule needs her crown prince to be strong for all of us right now. Please, we will watch your mother. Go, get some rest." The healer said.

"Has there been any message from my brother? Do you know when he will be here?" John asked him.

"I have heard nothing your highness. But if there had been a message for you from the Prince Regent it would have been brought to you immediately." He then repeated more firmly. "Go and get some sleep, your highness. Please. Healer's orders if need be."

"I thought I was the sovereign while my mother was ill." John retorted.

"Not when it comes to your health, your highness." The healer replied. "I swear to you we will use all the knowledge and power we have to help her majesty. I will send for you if anything changes."

John nodded, and finally relented. He stood up, his legs, cramped and stiff, complained as he started moving towards the doorway and out of the room. He took one last look at his mother's sleeping form and left the room into the stone halls of the royal residence.

He looked down the hall towards the door to his own bedchamber. It was the one he had shared for most of his life with his twin brother. Next to it was the sealed door of the Hero's private chamber, his father's room. No one had entered it since his mother had moved out of it. No one could. Because of it, Supreme Commander Oliver had taken a chamber in a separate part of the palace, closer to the training grounds. Like the sacred sword of legend, the door responded to one master alone. It would no longer even open for his mother after she had it sealed. John knew this because there were times through his life he had secretly observed her attempting to enter it, or just quietly talking to the closed door.

"Sleep." He said sarcastically. "Right. That's going to happen."

He turned away from the door to his bedchamber and went to leave the royal residence for the royal family's private chapel at the end of the hall. As far as he knew, it would be empty of anyone else at that time of the day.

"If ever there was a time we needed your help, grandmother, it is now." He whispered the prayer as he walked with purpose through the halls and down flights of stone steps. The palace seemed emptier than normal to him as he walked it. The walls seemed grayer than normal.

The paintings of past monarchs, many princesses and queens named Zelda, as well as paintings of the Hero throughout many, many lifetimes seemed less colorful, less joyful. He had never noticed before, but it seemed to him that they were all of the same man. He stopped and really looked at them. It was true. Each one of them could have been his father, or even himself or his brother as much as they resembled their father. The portraits of the Zeldas also seemed to be of the same woman, the aunt he had known when he was very young. Other monarchs, his ancestors, graced the walls as well, including his grandfather, King Gaepora. But between Zelda the twentieth, and Zelda the hundreth, there seemed to be no difference. The same wise, blue eyes, high cheekbones, and blond hair stared back at him from all of them. "How could that be possible?" He asked no one in particular.

"The goddess returned to lead us again and again." A female voice answered. It was one he knew well, though he had not thought to see her in that place in that moment. Like the others of her order, she rarely left her rightful place except the most urgent of times.

"The Sage of Light ventures from her temple." John said. "You go to see my mother?"

"I am aware of her condition. I will do all that I can for her as you ask." Aurina told him sincerely. "But that is not why I have come to the palace."

"What then?" He asked, forgetting her proper address as "your grace." His temper had grown short from his lack of sleep, and concern for his mother. His manners were beginning to be forgotten.

Aurina took no notice of the slight. "The unthinkable had happened, your highness."

"This is not news, your grace." John told her, facing her. "I have just spent all night watching the unthinkable happen."

"There is worse than the unthinkable then, your highness." The Sage said.

"What could be worse, your grace, than the monarch of Hyrule near death?" John let out a sigh of exasperation. He rubbed his face with his hands. His mood became increasingly more foul.

"The temples of Hyrule being destroyed and her Sages being imprisoned by the Prince Regent." Aurina answered.

"What are you talking about?" John asked, confused.

"My brother and sister Sages in Eastern Hyrule have communicated with me. The Temples of Earth and Wind have been destroyed, and what is left has been buried under mounds of rubble. Your brother has ordered their destruction. What's more, he has ordered the arrest of the Sages, and appears to be massing the Eastern legions at Westport. They do not know why."

"Why would he do that, Aurina?" John asked, his civilities just about gone. Aurina wasn't much older than himself. At one time when they were younger, before she had been awakened as a Sage, he had even had a crush on her. "What do you think he intends to do? Invade the West?"

"He is under the influence of an evil man." She said gravely. "They do not know what he intends to do next, but his blasphemies will bring down the divine wrath on all of us if he is not stopped." The bronze skinned Sage told him.

The world spun around John as he tried to comprehend this new information. "My brother has turned against the Sages? Has he lost his mind?" Was it possible? John asked himself.

"Or someone has stolen it from him, your highness. In either event, the result is the same." She said wearily. "I will go to your queen mother and use all the power the god of light has given me. But you must stop your brother, or it may be for nothing if the gods retaliate against us for his evil." She then put her hand on his shoulder in a more familiar way, "Hyrule needs you, John. She needs you like never before."

"What can I do about it?" John asked her, frustrated. "If he's truly been throwing Sages in chains, what makes you think he'll listen to me?"

"When Hyrule fell into darkness before, there was always a Hero who rose from obscurity to deliver us through it." Aurina said, gesturing to the portraits of Heroes past, all seemingly the same man. "If your brother continues down this path, Hyrule will fall into darkness from which it cannot recover."

"Hyrule doesn't need me." John said looking at the portrait in front of him. "It needs my father. And I am not him."

"She needs a Hero, John." Aurina said, then she lightly kissed him on the cheek, and left for the royal residence, leaving him alone with his thoughts.

"Guardsmen! Where is Supreme Commander Oliver?" He called out, though he knew he would not be far from his mother's bedchamber.

It was late afternoon, the day after he had received the message that had turned his world upside down. The Prince Regent stood just outside of his command tent outside the walls of Westport Town. Next to him was a young officer who had given him the afternoon reports he had requested, and he wasn't pleased. His orders had been carried out, but he felt no victory in them.

Talon read the reports on the destruction of the offending temples, but took no satisfaction in them. "What a waste." He said as he handed the papers back to the lieutenant who had given them to him. Did the Sages disrespect their own sacred charges, glories of Hylian art, science, and faith, so cavalierly that they forced him to move against them? He snorted in disgust.

He turned his attention to the ranks upon ranks of Eastern soldiers that had been massing since the day before at Westport. There had been too many to send them all by train, and the cavalry could not ride the rails so easily, so he had to resign himself to waiting for them to arrive the "old fashioned way." It would take two more days before they would be all in place. It mattered little. The transport ships were having to sail from the shipyards at Eastport around the north of the huge island that was Eastern Hyrule, they wouldn't be here until the day after tomorrow.

Talon himself was dressed in the blue uniform of his men, distinguished only by the crown insignia on his collar. But his face was so well known among them, his bearing so crisp and stately, no one mistook him for a common soldier. Grima, who rarely seemed to leave his prince's side, was nowhere to be seen at the moment.

"How has it come to this so quickly?" He asked out loud to no one in particular. "What evil power has so possessed you my brother that you would poison our own mother?" The anger rose up within him again at the thought of his brother's horrific betrayal. "I will bring you to justice. I swear it on our father's grave."

In the shadows of the tent behind him, a dark figure, seemingly made of shadow, watched the prince intently, listening to every word he said. A cold intensity radiated from his very presence as his red eyes glowed. The prince felt a cold presence touch his shoulder. He turned to see who might have been behind him, but he saw nothing. There was no one there. He returned his attention to overseeing the mass of troops before him.

"Okay, now what?" Daniel asked as they stood in the market square of Mido Town. It was just past sunrise when the passenger ferry came into port in Western Hyrule and they had stepped off onto the wooden docks. The trip by sea had cost them almost all of the rest of their rupees.

"Ugh, give me a second." Rodney's face was still a bit greenish from the crossing the night before as he bent over, still trying to get his stomach under control.

"You know, I still can't believe you got sea-sick all night, Rodney," Daniel said. "You've lived in a floating city now for more than eight years."

"Yeah, well Atlantis doesn't start bouncing up and down every time it encounters a miniscule wave, now does it?" Rodney retorted. He took a deep breath and stood up. Well, at least the ground's stopped moving underneath me, he thought. "Not everyone can just cozy up in a hammock during a storm now can they? I think I'm going to have nightmares about that toilet for the rest of my life."

Rodney looked around the town. Like the rest of Hyrule, it seemed to have grown and matured since the last time he was there. "I wonder what they're using to generate their electricity?" He asked out loud. "They don't really have any fossil fuels that I know of, and I don't smell any pollution like from a coal plant anywhere nearby. Come to think of it, the trains and the steamer didn't put off any noticeable pollution either."

"Didn't you design their steam engine plans?" Daniel asked.

"Well, yeah, I built a few engines, but I always had to use wood or some kind of a magical gizmo to heat the water to make it work. I didn't think they could really put them into mass usage though." Rodney said.

"Time-shift crystals, sir." An older voice said out loud.

"Huh?" Rodney turned around to find an older, white haired Hylian gentleman with spectacles in a brown waistcoat and trousers, with a white shirt and black tie. "Time-shift crystals? Where did you get...?"

"We used time-shift crystals to energize the water and create the steam. An ancient mine was discovered twenty-five years ago in Lanayru province and we started working it again." The old man said proudly. "They power all of our steam turbines and engines."

"How do you keep them from shifting people into the past? That was the whole reason I avoided using them in the first..." Rodney started in. He had considered the blue crystals far too unstable on many levels to use for a power source.

The old man cut him off. "By the goddesses!" He said, lowering his spectacles to get a better look at Rodney. "It can't be. That was thirty years ago. Doctor McKay, is that really you?"

Daniel's eyebrows went up as he asked, "You know him?" To which Rodney also added, "You know me?"

"I knew Doctor Rodney McKay, the wizard scientist from another reality thirty years ago. He was my mentor, or rather I was his assistant." The older man said, still trying to believe his own eyes.

Rodney studied his face, and thought long and hard, he then snapped his fingers and asked, "Oran? From Saria Town, right? You worked with me developing the steam engine designs."

"And the rifles, and the aircraft which we still haven't fully been able to implement." The older man moved to shake Rodney's hand vigorously, "Oh, it's good to see you, sir. I had heard rumors of Colonel Shepherd's short return to us twenty years ago during those troubled days, but I always wondered what had happened to you."

"Well, I got sent home with the rest of the band at the Temple of Time." Rodney said.

"Speaking of which," Daniel chimed in, "that's kind of where we need to get to. We uh, got here by accident and are trying to get home. You wouldn't by any chance know how we might be able to get there from here, would you?"

"The Temple of Time?" Oran asked, rubbing his chin thinking. "I don't know exactly where it is except that it's in Faron Province, and that it's under heavy guard. You would need permission from the Royal Family to venture there, or else the Guardsmen would arrest you before you got close, if they didn't just shoot you on sight. Security's pretty tight at all the Temples now."

"The Royal Family?" Daniel asked. "How might we gain an audience with them?"

"Well, Queen Malon's a reasonable, and generous woman," Oran said. "I'm sure if you two told her who you were and why you needed to get there, she'd be willing to see that you make it. Either her or Prince John. I'm going there myself come the noon train if you two gentleman want to join me. I have to deliver a report to the minister of technology at the palace."

"Wait, so the queen's okay?" Rodney asked.

"As far as I know. Why wouldn't she be?" Oran asked. "Of course I've been here in Mido for the last week, so I haven't heard any news from the palace."

Daniel quickly spoke up, "We had just heard that her majesty had become ill recently."

"Well, if she's under the weather than it's Prince John or Supreme Commander Oliver that you'll be wanting to talk to then. Come to think of it, Oliver might even remember you, Doctor McKay." Oran told him.

"We'd love to, but our rupees have run a little short." Rodney said. "I don't suppose you know where we could hitch a ride?"

"That's not a problem, doctor. No, not for you, sir. You can travel with me. I have a royal pass that allows me to ride the trains with a small number of guests. I'm the chief technologist for steam power development." Oran said proudly. "Please, be my guests for a drink at the inn while we wait for our train." He invited them. "Mido's pumpkin whiskey is second to none!"

"We'd be happy to." Daniel said for the both of them, planning on something with a little less bite. Rodney nodded in agreement. As the three of them walked across the market square towards the Stranded Sailor Inn, Rodney asked, "So, how did you solve the time-shift problem?"

"When we uncovered the mines, we found ancient blueprints giving us the insights we needed to make it possible. It was an interesting series of accidents actually, involving a timeshift bubble thousands of years in the past and a very helpful talking machine called a 'robot'!." Oran said.

"Did you just say a 'robot'?" Daniel asked in disbelief.

"Yes, a funny, but very helpful little fellow!" Oran then began to regale them the entire story of how the time-shift steam engine was born with the help of an ancient mining robot's knowledge.

"Goddesses have mercy on us." John whispered as he observed the ranks of grey uniformed soldiers in front of him. He wore a gray officer's uniform with the royal triforce crest and a crown on the collar. "How could it have come to needing this? Is my brother insane?" Two legions of guardsmen had been called up and assembled within the last twenty-four hours. Most of those in front of him had already been present at Castle Town and the surrounding villages and farms, about a thousand men, including Cavalry. The rest were being assembled at Rauru Town to wait for the legion from Castle Town to head on towards Mido Town and confront Talon's forces, if that's where he intended to land them; if he intended to land them in Western Hyrule..

John, Oliver and the other generals of Hyrule's forces discussed, and planned, and discussed again for an hour the day before, until they felt this was their only option. If his twin brother had truly lost his mind and planned an invasion of the mainland, then they had to meet him in kind. The beach near Mido Town was determined to be the most likely site for a strategic landing, the northern routes through the desert being infested with the huge razor bladed peahats and other demons of the wastelands. The danger from them was the reason why there was no shipping port on the north coast. Talon knew as well as they did that he'd lose half his forces if he brought them through the north.

Messages had gone out by telegraph to the nearby towns, and by rider to the surrounding farms and small villages. Those soldiers who had not already been in Castle Town began pouring in by nightfall, answering the royal call to arms. Temple guards had been doubled with what remaining forces could be spared due to Aurina's warning. They would be marching the next day, and John and Oliver would be leading them.

Oliver had protested at the crown prince's decision at the war meeting, "Your highness, with your mother ill, you are Hyrule's monarch right now, I cannot allow you to..."

"You cannot allow me?" John had said interrupting him, taking a tone of authority Oliver had never heard from him before. "I am the crown prince. You cannot forbid me, Supreme Commander! I will not ask our guardsmen to fight and die without being willing to do so myself." He then softened his tone, and said, "He is my brother, Oliver. And the task of guarding the Sages and their temples has always fallen to the royal family. If this is anyone's responsibility it is mine. And I will not sit back here in a fortified castle like a coward while thousands of Hyrule's sons shed blood in my or my mother's name. Would she have me remain? Would my father? What about the goddess of courage herself, Farore, my grandmother? How would my remaining honor her?" John had countered. "I'm going, and if need be I will shed blood and die with them as one of them. I can't do any less for them or for Hyrule." He was resolute, and Oliver's protests were silenced.

John had hated that meeting the day before. He hated even the thought of it, because of the decisions which had to be made. It was a bad dream made real in the daylight, as was the mass of troops mustered in front of him on the training field. The troops he knew he would have to lead into combat against their own people; against his own brother.

"Your highness!" A soldier's voice called out to him. It was a young man he didn't know personally. There were a lot of soldiers here he didn't know personally. That bothered him too. "When will I wake up from this nightmare?" He silently asked himself. "Over here!" He called out.

"Your highness, Supreme Commander Oliver requests your presence in the Council Chamber. It appears there's been a development. Something about 'unexpected guests.'" The young man said.

"Yes, of course. I'll go at once. Lead the way." John responded. Anything to get away from this sight. He thought.

"Link?!" Rodney blurted out the first time he saw the crown prince. He actually rubbed his eyes to confirm that it wasn't who he thought it was.

"I'm sorry?" The younger Hylian man said in response.

"No, I'm sorry your, uh, highness, but holy moly you look just like him." Rodney replied. "Except for the hair. Link was always more of a darker blond."

"And you would be?" The gray uniformed crown prince asked in confusion.

Oliver interceded for the two of them, "Your highness, this is Doctor Rodney McKay. He is the..."

"Rodney McKay? My father used to tell us stories about you when I was a child! I am John." John said enthusiastically, moving to shake Rodney's hand. His mood then turned more somber, "Your arrival is ill timed I am afraid. I would have liked to have had your company for a time and exchange stories of my father. As it stands we may be on the brink of a war we do not want."

"Yes, your highness. Doctor McKay and his friend, Doctor Daniel Jackson have just confirmed our worst fears. Your brother sails for Mido Town within days, and he brings at least a legion of men with him, including cavalry and artillery." Oliver told him gravely.

"Then it's true. My brother has lost his mind." John said, feeling like he had been physically struck. "We have no more options then, do we Oliver?"

"I don't see any." Oliver said. "We will have to face them on the field of battle. I'm sorry your highness."

Daniel then spoke up, "Uh, look, I know I'm the new guy here, but isn't there any way you can talk to your brother? Or at least his troops? From what we heard on the train, it didn't sound like they really wanted to be risking the wrath of the goddesses by carrying out his orders."

"If only there was a way to make them listen." Oliver agreed. "The best way to win a battle is to keep it from happening in the first place. But they are trained to be loyal to their prince regent. As you yourself saw, Doctor Jackson, they have mustered under his banner even knowing the consequences."

"They would have listened to my father." John said, pensively. "They would have listened to the Hero of Hyrule in his green tunic and wielding the Master Sword of legend." He put his hand to his chin deep in thought and moved off by himself in the room.

Oliver turned to face the two weary men again with empathy. "Thank you for your news, dire as it is. I am sorry we cannot show you more hospitality after such a long trip doctors, but please feel free to avail yourself of anything the castle may offer at this time. Maybe once this is over..."

"Actually, what we really need is to get to the Temple of Time." Rodney said bluntly. "It's the main reason why we came to the castle."

"The Temple of Time? Why on earth would you need to go there?" Oliver said, taken aback. "Only the royal family and their representatives may pass into the Sacred Grove, and then not lightly. You don't know what you're asking."

"Uh, yeah, I think I do. I've been there a couple of times." Rodney responded roughly.

Seeing the potential for the conversation to degrade rapidly from their, Daniel spoke up again, "We need to go there because it's the only way we know of to go back to the reality we came from. We're just trying to get home, and the Temple of Time has the only working portal that we know of." He then turned to Rodney and asked "portal, right?" To which Rodney nodded grumpily. "We're here in Hyrule by accident. We're just trying to get home."

"Be that as it may, Doctor Jackson," Oliver said, trying to be understanding of their predicament, "especially with the threat made against the temples, I don't think we can permit anyone other than the royal family access to any of the temples, especially not the Temple of Time. Not right now at least." He said firmly. "It is the oldest and most important of the Temples of Hyrule."

"I understand. But it's also our only chance right now. Perhaps there's some kind of agreement or compromise we could come to." Daniel asked.

"I'm sorry, I really am. But I don't see how it might even be possible for you to enter if we permitted it. Only a Sage, the Hero, or a member of the royal family may enter the sacred place." Oliver said.

"I will go with them. We will leave on the train for Faron woods tonight. This hour if possible." John spoke up rejoining them.

"Your highness, you know that's not possible. The men are to move out tomorrow morning." Oliver said, not understanding.

"That is why I must go. They may travel with me. But I must stand in the place of my father if we have any hope of stopping this battle before it starts." John said, he then began to tell them his plan.

Chapter 4

"Have I mentioned yet that I think this is a bad plan?" Rodney said to John and Daniel as they stood on the threshold of the Temple of Time.

"Yes, you have, Rodney. At least three times since we got off the train." Daniel replied.

"Well it is." Rodney said again, as John retrieved a silver flute from his coat pocket and began to play the seven notes which would open the doorway. As in the first and only other time Rodney had been there, the symbols on the door frame lit up and a shimmering blue field of energy formed across it.

"Bad plan or not, the alternative, Dr. McKay, is Hylian spilling Hylian blood. I would rather die than see that happen." John said, and then disappeared through the portal.

"Come on." Rodney said in defeat, and then followed him in. Daniel trailed after him.

The inside of the temple was much as Rodney remembered it. Of course it would be. The interior of the temple existed outside the normal flow of time. It was all gold, marble, and obsidian décor bathed in a soft golden light. Rodney still hadn't worked out where the light source was coming from. For a moment he expected to be greeted by the annoyingly endearing old lady, Impa who had knowingly trapped him and his team there in Hyrule for six years several years ago. Yes, it was done with the best of intentions, and it all worked out in the end, but it still annoyed him nonetheless. But then he remembered Impa had died and ascended. So then who was the new guardian? He wondered.

"So who's the new Sage of Time?" Rodney asked John hopefully. "And when do we get to meet her, or him as the case may be?"

"New Sage?" John returned, his eyes scanning the expansive room in front of him. "I don't know of any new Sage of Time since her grace was murdered when I was a boy." He then added after a minute, "When the time is right, one will be awakened and take her place."

Rodney's facial expression then turned to one of sheer panic. "No Sage?" He asked again, hoping he had heard wrong.

"No, why?" John responded.

"Why?! I'll tell you why! Because the stargate is retracted into the floor, that's why!" Rodney raised his voice in disgust. "You could have told us that while we were still at Castle Town, it would have at least saved us the trip!"

"You didn't ask." John said, not turning to face them. "You didn't enjoy the train ride across Hyrule? I thought it was very pleasant." He said, a little too flippantly.

"Rodney, calm down." Daniel spoke up. "There's got to be other ways home from here."

"Hello! Hyrule to Danny-boy! No stargate, no time portal. No time portal, even if we could find the linking book in the library here, it would put us back on Earth thirty years or more in our future! And before you say there's got to be another way again, save it! There isn't! I know! I looked for one for six years!"

"Yes, my father used to tell us stories of his adventures with you before he died. We always found them quite humorous." John said sadly, missing his mother's laugh and the story telling times with his whole family. Sometimes, even his aunt would come and fill in some details in their private chambers. His heart ached at the memory.

"Is there anyone else who knows how to operate the, um... portal of time?" Daniel asked John calmly.

"No. Only the Sage of Time and the goddess herself that I know of. Perhaps she might be willing to assist if you would offer her a prayer?" John offered.

Rodney's face went red, but before he could explode, Daniel intervened. "So then why hasn't a new Sage been appointed?"

"Because the goddess has not awakened one. I believe I already said that." John returned.

"So then Sages aren't chosen by some elective process?" Daniel asked, not familiar with Hylian customs and intrigued.

"No, they must be awakened by the god or goddess whom they represent. In ancient times, this was also known as the Temple of Hylia. It is Hylia who must awaken her Sage, and she has not yet chosen her new Sage that I am aware of." John responded.

"That almost sounds like the Priors of the Ori." Daniel responded concerned.

"They're similar, but without the 'convert or die' rhetoric." Rodney told him, trying to come to grips with his severe miscalculation. "They usually just hang out in their temples praying, meditating, or whatever they do unless they have to go somewhere on goddess business. They pretty much stay out of the way of everyday life except for the really important stuff like coronations, royal succession, or the end of the world."

"I see." Daniel said. "And there's one Sage for every temple?" He asked.

"Yes, each temple represents a primal element governed by one of the goddesses or gods," John answered, "Forest, Fire, Water, Shadow, Spirit, Light, Time, Earth, and Wind. Forest as well as courage is governed by Farore, fire and power by Din, and water and wisdom by Nayru. Hylia governs the primal element of Time and is also the ancient progenitor and guardian of the Hylian royal family."

"Hylia?" Daniel asked. "Wasn't she also..?"

"Zelda." Rodney answered, still flustered. "Zelda was Hylia's mortal incarnation."

"In every age of Hyrule's existence yes. My aunt returned to us again and again to lead her people and protect us with her wisdom in our darkest times." John said, his eyes finally fixed on what they had been seeking."

Daniel tried to process that. "So, just as Link was reborn time and again, so was Zelda?"

"Yes. My father was continuously reborn as well through the will of Farore to fight the Demon King and keep him contained." John said, beginning his reverent approach to the pedestal where his father's sword slept peacefully. "The goddesses continuously returned them to us to deliver us in our times of need against the oppression and enslavement of the Demon King."

"They continuously ascended and retook human form after they died," Daniel said, putting the pieces together in his head, "for thousands of years because only they could use the _lamna clavia_ to keep the Demon King contained."

"Except it wasn't Link's choice." Rodney added to Daniel's train of thought. "Or if it was, he didn't remember any of it until the crap hit the fan. I'm not sure Zelda did either."

"So someone else continuously sent them back, with or without their consent? Who?" Daniel asked.

"Knowing Link and Zelda, I don't think it was without their consent. They could both be pretty stubborn when they needed to be." Rodney told him, his eyes moving back and forth across the chamber trying, and failing, to work up a plan to raise and operate the stargate himself. "Useless." He kept saying. "No, that won't work. Dammit."

"What?" Daniel asked.

"Even if I could get the stargate raised, I would still need to know the extra coordinates to put us on Atlantis and in the right time zone, so to speak. Not to mention the power requirements. The last time Impa did this, she had the Triforce of Power."

At this Daniel pursed his lips and stayed silent, thinking of the pendant hanging around his neck.

Rodney continued, "We could use it to go back in time thirty years ago and then find the linking book, but I don't know how to make it do that, and there's no computer consoles for me to find out how! Not even my own tablet!" He was fuming. Rodney was powerless in a way he hadn't been for a long time, and his fate was literally in the hands of gods he didn't believe in much less trust.

John hadn't been listening to this last part of their argument. Instead he had, humbly and with much reverence, gone to stand before the Master Sword embedded in its stone pedestal. He had then dropped to one knee, bent his head low and offered a prayer to his goddesses.

"Great goddesses of Hyrule," He began, "Din, Nayru, and grandmother Farore, hear me, please. Lady Hylia, ancestor and aunt lend me your ear, I humbly implore you. Hyrule is in danger once more from within. If nothing is done, all that you have worked for, your sacrifices, my father's sacrifice, will have been for nothing. I am in need of your power, your wisdom, and your courage to fight this evil. My queen mother has been poisoned and she sleeps a deathly sleep. The healers of our land have no cure for it. As I speak, my traitorous brother moves to invade our land, destroy your temples, murder your Sages, and usurp the throne which I would have given him freely and gladly. But it wasn't my will, but your will that I be named heir. I am not my father, the great Hero who became our savior time and time again, but to fight this evil, I must try and become him for all of our sakes. I humbly ask your blessing as I go to take up his sword in your names to fight this evil, or die in the attempt."

Then, standing up, he strode with purpose towards the pedestal. It was then that Rodney came out of his despair long enough to notice what the prince was doing and he panicked once again, knowing full well what the consequences of the younger man's actions could be.

"Wait, John." Rodney tried to stop him. "Only your father or your aunt could safely touch that sword. It's the reason why they kept coming back. If you try it, it could roast you." He let that last sentence hang in the air. Daniel stayed silent, taking the scene in. He then realized that this was a fate, a destiny, which John had to find the courage to accept on his own.

"I am not my father," John said, standing over the sapphire hilt of the sword in the pedestal, "but I am still my father's son." And he gripped the hilt of the Master Sword with both hands, risking his certain death, and began to pull upwards.

Rodney covered his eyes with his hands saying, "Oh I can't look!"

The sword resisted his pull at first, and then, "Recognition accepted," came a strange female voice, "Master..." The voice trailed off, uncertain. There was a pause, then the voice said, "Error in recognition, both gene sets recognized. Situation impossible. Identity of Master unknown." John's fingers began to tingle painfully as hot energy began to build up in the hilt, preparing to be released.

"I am John, son of Link and Malon; grandson of Gaepora, king of Hyrule; nephew of Zelda; Crown Prince of Hyrule." John said with definitive purpose and authority, determined to be master over his father's sword or die in the attempt.

The intelligence within the sword seemed to pause as she considered this new information. Then after a minute the painful burning in John's hands faded away. "Identity accepted, Master John, Crown Prince of Hyrule." The sword finally conceded, and John finally exhaled as he realized he hadn't taken a breath since he grasped the sword. John then pulled upward with all of his strength and the sword slid free of its ancient stone sheath.

"I don't believe it." Rodney said, unshielding his eyes to look at the scene in front of him, so reminiscent of a scene he encountered many years before with another young hero he had known, and he was filled with a slight spark of... kinship with the young man in front of him. Yeah, if Rodney had to put a name to the feeling, it would have been kinship, just as Link had become something like family to him in the same way Shepherd, Teyla, and even Ronan had. "That shouldn't have happened. The genome has to be precise, I've seen the blueprints!"

The form of a strange blue and silver young woman emerged. "I am Fi." The young woman said. "I am the spirit of the Master Sword. Why have I been awoken like this?" She demanded an answer from the prince holding her real form.

"Great spirit of the sword of swords, we have need of your might once more. Hyrule faces a great darkness once again." John said with reverent awe.

"Yeah, when doesn't it?" Rodney whispered to Daniel. Daniel, who had been standing with his arms crossed put his finger to his lips to signal him to be quiet.

"I understand. I had been informed that the Demon King was dead by Master Link. This is highly unusual Master John." Fi responded.

"It isn't the Demon King that threatens Hyrule, Fi." John said, "But my own brother. Nothing is the same as it was." His voice dripped with bitter anger and sorrow at the betrayal he felt. "My brother Talon means to take Hyrule away from our mother, Queen Malon."

"I am not meant to be used to settle family disputes, Master!" Fi said indignantly.

"Great sword, this is no mere family argument." Daniel spoke up, addressing Fi. "Prince Talon has come under the influence of an evil sorcerer and he is not himself. We humbly ask you to help us reawaken the spirit of his father which has fallen dormant within him. We ask you to help us restore the faith of Hyrule's ancestral Hero to her people."

Fi considered this silently. "How?" She asked.

"Be our symbol, Lady Fi. Be the symbol of the hope which my father and aunt represented to our people. Let us show the people together that though their legend may have been brought to an end, their spirit and memory live on in us; all of us." John said. "If we can stir the hearts of our people then maybe we can avoid having brother spilling brother's blood."

"A worthy goal, but I calculate only an eleven percent chance of success at our mission." Fi reported.

"Then we still have some chance." John said. "Will you fight this battle with me as you fought with my father?"

"I am at your service, Master John." Fi replied resolutely.

The dark clothed figure seemed to just materialize out of the shadows of wooden crates waiting to be loaded onto a ferry the next morning at the shipping docks of Westport. It was the middle of the night, and there was no one else around. The old, silver haired and bearded man had been expecting him.

"Were you followed?" The old man asked, suspiciously.

"Can a shadow be followed? I was out of Castle Town before the queen hit the floor." The dark clothed figure replied. "No one sees me. No one ever will. Do you have my payment?"

"Are you certain there's no way for the queen to recover from the poison?" The old man asked, ignoring the question for the moment. "I've seen what kinds of miracles water of life can do."

"Not with this special recipe." The dark one said. "They'd have to be feeding it to her constantly, and even then the medicine can only keep a person alive for so long. The Sheikah know their poisons very well, adviser. She will be dead within the week, as will her ministers."

"You missed the crown prince." Grima said matter of factly. "He was supposed to fall with his mother, and the Sages take the blame for it. I had to improvise with the prince regent. Now instead of a bloodless coup and a mourning puppet king, I have an invasion and a civil war to manage. You have complicated my plans with your mistake."

"I can't be held responsible if the little crown prince isn't hungry and doesn't drink his tea!" The Sheikah assassin whispered loudly. He then returned to a calmer voice. "It is of little concern. He is nothing. He sleeps late, plays with his sword, and takes nothing seriously. The Sages were fools to name the weakling heir. He will be no threat. The Western soldiers will follow the prince they most respect. Once they see the prince regent on the field, they will gladly join him." He then stretched out his hand. "Now, give me what we agreed adviser." The assassin's tone turned deadly.

"Of course." Grima said, "your payment." He then stretched out his hand palm facing the assassin, and spoke unintelligible words.

"What are you...? Arrrrgh!" The assassin dropped to the ground and convulsed several times, his eyes rolling back up into his head. Blood began to dribble from his nostrils, and then the dark figure lay still.

"Disposing of a useless tool." Grima said, lowering his hand. He then made a sweeping motion with his hand, as if he were swatting the air and the lifeless body threw itself as though swept off the dock and into the water. Grima whispered more words, and the corpse sank to the bottom.

He then calmly strode away from the docks as though nothing unusual had occurred, his mind buried deep in his thoughts. It had been easy enough to influence Talon. The pride and ambition were already there in their seed forms, he only needed to water and feed them with fear and a "righteous" justification. He was easier to control than Grima first believed him to be. Talon would see to it that his only real threats, Hyrule's Sages, were taken care of. He had never met Talon's brother, or his mother. From what he had learned of this world, he could not take the chance of them discovering who or what he was, so he had always remained behind to "look after things" while Talon had gone home for his little get togethers with the family. He had expected the assassin to remove them from the equation. As for Hyrule's "goddesses," they would do nothing he was certain. The Others never do unless it might threaten their own plane of existence. The Hylians foolishly put their faith in the wrong beings. Everything had been planned out. Nothing should have been left to chance. Except the assassin wasn't as efficient as he had been told, and now he would have to orchestrate a military coup instead of a bloodless one. It was a nuisance he could have done without.

He returned quickly to his tent next to the prince-regent's so as not to be missed.

"I hate horses." Rodney said to no one in particular. After a night spent camped in the guardsmens' barracks and a day's worth of riding, Daniel didn't blame him, but it was the only mode of transportation they had since they had been notified after they left the temple by the guardsmen in the Sacred Grove that Oliver had suspended all train service in Hyrule until further notice.

"It was either this or walk, Rodney." Daniel said, for the third time since they left the Faron woods. The road south and east towards Mido Town had been strangely empty of any traffic save a few horse-carts headed north towards Rauru Town.

"I am sure they are none too fond of you either." John quipped. Since the short time he had begun to know the strange men who were now his traveling companions, he wondered whatever endeared Rodney McKay to his father. The man seemed to complain constantly. Granted, his father did say that in his stories, but when he told the stories about him, it made everyone laugh. Now, John was mostly irritated by it. "You did not have to come with me." He reminded him.

"And let you go off and commit suicide by yourself, no, I don't think so. Someone needs to be using their brains with this 'plan' of yours." Rodney said derisively.

"I still haven't heard you suggest a better one." John retorted.

"I'm still working on one." Rodney said. "One that doesn't involve all three of us being used as target practice by a thousand soldiers."

"That won't happen." John said confidently.

"Not to take Rodney's side on this," Daniel said, to which he got a dirty look from Rodney, "but why are you so certain that this will work?"

"Hylians are a people of faith, Doctor Jackson." John told him. "It is that faith which sustains us and gives us the wisdom, power, and courage to fight our way through the darkest of times. After the princess Zelda, my aunt, and my father, the Hero left us, my mother ordered that all of what was known of their wisdom and courage would be written down and shared with all the people as a perpetual legacy for all of Hyrule. Thanks to my mother's efforts every Hylian today knows the 'legend of Zelda' and the stories of our goddesses and their battles against the chaos that repeatedly threatened our world. The faith of the Triforce, once almost unknown to all but the Sages and the royal family, has become an inspiration to us all, and there isn't a man in our military force who hasn't been told the stories of my father's courage throughout the ages in order to inspire them to feats of courage. There are few Hylians today who would not recognize my father's sword and what it means that I would carry it."

"So your mother, her majesty, built a religion around your father and your aunt?" Daniel asked, intrigued and a little disturbed.

John phrased his answer carefully. "I would say that my mother gave back to our people the truth which had been kept from them for eons. And it is a truth which honors the gifts the goddesses of creation gave all of us as well as the sacrifices made by the Princess and the Hero. Din, Nayru, and Farore have always been our goddesses, and my aunt and my father have been working together to preserve Hyrule since the very beginnings of our civilization. Would you continue to hide the people's own history from them?"

"No, I suppose not." Daniel said, considering his words.

"Yeah well I find the whole thing disturbing, and I think if Link and Zelda were here, they'd think so too." Rodney chimed in. "Maybe there was a good reason for Zelda or Hylia keeping the whole thing to herself for millenia. Religions have a way of turning into the exact opposite of what their founders intended."

"Rodney does have a point," Daniel said. "Even the most peaceful religions in our world have been twisted to justify some pretty horrific atrocities. What happens when people start to demand that everyone venerates the Hero and the Princess? What happens to those people who just see them as inspiring stories but nothing more? Maybe Zelda kept it a secret because, in the middle of everything else that was happening, she didn't want Hyrule to be torn apart by competing faiths or ideologies."

"Why would any rational person commit an atrocity in the name of a peaceful divinity?" John asked. "That is the most absurd thing I have ever heard."

"Yeah well it happens more often that we'd like." Rodney answered him. "The Ancients, your ancestors, had a rule that said they wouldn't interfere with people's free will, their ability to make their own choices. It was their most important rule. Making a religion out of them kind of skews that sideways, don't you think?"

"That is a good rule." John agreed, "No one is forcing anyone to follow or believe in the goddesses, the Triforce, or the Princess and the Hero, Doctor McKay. But perhaps, if we all survive this, I should ensure that no one ever does. Perhaps we can learn from my aunt's wisdom yet again."

"So, how much farther to Mido? It seemed a lot shorter of a distance by train." Daniel asked.

"Not much farther. We'll have to either find an inn along the road, or make camp somewhere tonight. After that we should reach the coast by mid-day if we can start out again in the morning by sunrise." John said.

"I vote for the inn." Rodney said. "And a hot meal."

"It's been a while, but I think there used to be one not much farther up ahead." John told him, pointing down the road east. "We'll see if they've got rooms for the night."

Chapter 5

It was late afternoon and the sun was just beginning to dip down towards the mountains in the west. Oliver sat astride his old, white war stallion, Firefight, as he watched the columns of men march down the main road. He had been a trusted companion to Hyrule's chief general for almost two decades, though neither of them had seen much actual combat on the field recently. For that matter, neither had the men in the grey uniforms and chain-mail in front of him. He would stake his life on their ability just from their training, and he was doing just that, but none of them knew what war was truly like, or what they could be walking into. Every man in front of him knew someone or had friends in the Eastern legions. He would be asking them to fire on those friends if it came to it. "What do you think, boy?" He patted his horse on the side of his neck, "Will they do it if it comes down to that?"

Firefight seemed to study the troops as well, and then snorted in response.

"That's my fear too." Oliver replied.

The legion had marched from Hyrule castle the morning after John and the two other men had departed on their more clandestine mission. Their had been no change with the queen, but four more ministers had convulsed and died. Only the prime minister, the foreign minister, and the minister of transportation remained alive besides her majesty. Oliver held out hope that their deaths were in direct proportion to how much they had eaten the morning before. Her majesty had only had the one cup of tea. The men who had died were not so abstinent with their breakfast.

"Sir," Oliver's lieutenant aide, who pulled up next to him on his own roan horse, addressed him, "the forward regiments report that they have reached the staging area for the night. Scouts in Mido report no landing as of yet. Our whole force should make Mido by tomorrow morning."

"Has there been any word from Prince John?" Oliver asked, hopefully.

"None sir." The aide then said, "If I might ask, sir, is he expected to join us tonight with more reinforcements?"

Oliver thought about how to answer the younger officer's question, then said, "The crown prince's mission is for he and I to know alone." The fewer people that know the plan, the fewer people will accuse us both of insanity if we survive this, he thought. "But let us pray to the goddesses that he is successful, for all our sakes."

"Very good, sir." The lieutenant responded, and then moved off towards the rear regiments to gather the reports from their officers.

He asked himself again and again, would her majesty have approved of her son's plan? Had he failed her in protecting her son? Had he failed her in training her other son in the right way?

His heart was torn for John and Talon. With the two boys, her majesty, and all of Hyrule for that matter, to look after, Oliver had never married. There might have been a time, and a maiden he had courted, when that might have been possible. But then the Hero gave his life, and the princess was slain and the whole world was torn apart and turned upside down in a single day it seemed, and his life changed forever upon meeting his old commanding officer from his youth. He couldn't, and wouldn't, ask those sacrifices of the young woman.

He had never had his own children, but the young princes had been as dear to him as though they were his own as he watched them grow. They were not his sons, but he tried his best to honor their father by filling the role left vacant with the Hero's death in the best way he knew how. Where his queen was concerned... He would be forever hers, but she never his. He knew he held the closest position to her of anyone in the kingdom, but her heart was not for him. He did not question it, but resolved to only be there at her service whenever she needed him in any capacity. It was his duty, his honor, and his love for all of them. He honestly could not imagine anything short of witchcraft or evil sorcery on the order of the demon king of old which could have so torn "his" family apart, the family he loved most in the world. The thought of having to fight Talon... His eyes, already red from his queen's deathly sleep, began to water once more.

"I am sorry for this, Hero," he said out loud, wondering if somewhere, somehow Link might hear him. "I did the best I could with them, but I wasn't you. I don't know where or what you may be now. But if you can hear me, please help them. Both of them. They need your guidance now."

A warm gust of wind blew unexpectedly across the road where it had been dead calm all day before that. Taking notice of it, Oliver quietly nodded in acknowledgment.

The Hylian Sea pitched and tossed the steam powered troop transports back and forth as they slowly made their way across the normally calm channel between Hyrule's two halves. Talon had been in a large cabin commandeered for his personal use, attempting to sleep in an increasingly wildly swinging hammock, but there was no use. There was to be no rest for him that night. He lay awake, eyes shut tight in futility, angry and irritable.

"Talon..." He heard a breathy voice whisper. Talon's eyes flew open. His cabin had been locked from the inside. "Talon..." The voice called him again, and he jumped out of the hammock and onto his feet. The vessel pitched to the side at just that moment, so he landed wrong nearly twisting his ankle. "What?!" He shouted in pain into the darkness. "Who dares invade the prince-regent's cabin?!"

"Talon..." The voice said again, from behind him. The prince spun around to face his burglar to find a shadowy, dark figure wearing a very dark, almost black, green tunic over chain mail and dark leather gauntlets. The figure's face was obscured in shadow. His eyes glowed red.

"What do you want from me, demon!" Talon said, lunging for his sword which hung in its scabbard on the wall.

"Don't draw your sword unless you are prepared to use it." The shade said, deadly menace edging every word.

Talon drew his hand back, sensing his danger. "What do you want?" He asked again, more warily than before.

The figure said nothing, but just stared at him. No, Talon sensed he wasn't staring at him, he was staring into him, into his very soul and being, searching... but searching for what?

"There is a poison which has seeped into Hyrule." The shade finally said. "Only you can stop it from destroying this land."

"I already know all about it. My armies cross the Hylian Sea to put an end to it." Talon told him. "You need not fear. I will see the Hylian royal family restored to their proper place."

"Fool!" The shade spat bitterly at the prince. "You cannot fight poison with armies! It must be rooted out and cured! You must bring the three forces into balance to heal our people!"

"I don't understand." Talon said.

"That is obvious." The shadow returned, and then said sternly, "I can see the good seeds there struggling to grow within you, but there are weeds, boy, strangling them and choking the life out of them. You have to find the power, wisdom, and courage within yourself to cut them out. Only then can you truly bring healing to our land."

"What must I do?" Talon asked calmly.

"Turn back, and govern your people in your rightful place." The shadow warned.

"Turn back? How can I govern the people in my rightful place if I don't first put an end to the conspiring Sages?" Talon asked, hostility dripping from his words. "This poison you speak of must be cut out at its source! We will raze all of the temples to the ground, bring the Sages to justice, and Hyrule will start fresh in the new age my mother envisioned!"

"So you choose power then? Over everything else?" The shadow asked with sorrow.

"Only the power to do good! To drive back the poison and abolish it forever!" Talon said triumphantly.

"Beware, boy!" The shade commanded, angry authority radiating from him, "Throw the three forces out of balance, and all of Hyrule is thrown out of balance!"

"I've had enough of you, shade. Be gone!" Talon shouted, unwilling to hear any more.

The shadow figure faded. As he did so, a whispered voice said, "Good bye my son, I fear I have lost you forever."

But Talon did not hear it. He had stopped listening.

John had taken the first watch that night on the hills overlooking the beach where he knew his brother would land Eastern Hyrule's forces. He knew Oliver's legions would be at least a day's march behind he, Rodney, and Daniel; perhaps two. The weight of all of those Hylian lives lay heavy on his heart. Either he succeeded in his plan, or Hyrule would plunge into chaos again.

The two men from Earth were fast asleep on the sandy hill. Rodney snored louder than John was comfortable with, but there was nothing for it. The man was brave in his own way, but he was a thinker, not a fighter, John thought. Their fire had died low, but the night air was not uncomfortably cold.

John saw a flash of movement off to the side of their makeshift beach camp and he trained his eyes on it, but there was nothing there. He stood up to get a better view of the surrounding land. He then heard a whispered, strangely familiar male voice call out, "John." Turning his head this way and that, he spotted a lone, dark figure in the shadows less than twenty feet from where he stood. Before John could wake the other men, the figure held up his left hand palm out, and with his right he put his finger to his lips. John nodded his understanding. The figure then beckoned him with his hand to join him away from where the others might hear and see, and turning to go, John followed him sensing that this strange meeting was for him alone.

When they had gotten far enough away, the shadow figure turned to face John. Even close up, the figure's face could not be clearly seen, but there was something familiar in it that he recognized, and even trusted. The figure wore a very dark green tunic and chain mail that seemed to blend in with the night's shadows around them. A Hylian sword and shield appeared from nowhere in the figure's hands.

"Defend yourself!" The dark figure before John commanded.

John instinctively brought his shield up and the Master Sword leaped into his hand without conscious thought as his muscles had been conditioned to do by the swordmasters all of his life. John had been raised with a sword in his hand for as long as he could remember. His father had been the first man to press real blades into his and his brother's hands. By the time he was five, when his father has passed on, he and his brother both has mastered all of the basic forms and movements of swordplay. His mother had insisted on them having the best swordsmen in Hyrule come and train her sons after the Hero's self-sacrifice. Now, his own movements were done without conscious thought at all.

"Who are you?" John asked.

The shadow didn't answer, but faster than John could see or think he attacked forcefully with an overhead strike. John's shield went up instinctively to block it before his mind could process the action. He then brought his sword around in a tightly controlled but fierce slash.

His opponent quickly danced out of the way, spinning around to bring his own sword to sever John's head from his neck. John rolled forward and around the sword wielding shade striking at his back, the shade only blocking the Sacred Blade's bite by a fraction of a second, and returning his own strike in a sweeping arc that should have disemboweled the prince, but didn't. They continued silently trading fierce blows in the attempt to relieve the other combatant of his mortality. The only sound was the ringing and clashing of sword upon sword and shield. They moved faster and faster in the deadly dance until the shadow swordsman called out "Enough!" And they both froze, the edges of their swords pressed against each other's throats.

"You've learned well." The shadow swordsman said calmly as he drew his blade slowly away and sheathed it. "As well as any I've ever trained."

"I had good teachers." John replied, breathing harder than he cared to admit, as the Master Sword returned to its sheath. "And a good sword."

"A sword wields no strength unless the hand that holds it has courage." The shadow told him. "You hold the Sacred Blade, but do you have the courage to wield it?"

"Let's go another round and we will discover the answer together!" John responded.

The shadow warrior held up his hand palm facing John, and said, "Hold. You will need your courage, young prince, in the trial that lies ahead of you. You will need the wisdom to know who your enemy truly is. And you will need the power to defend our people from that enemy."

"And who is my true enemy, swordmaster?" John asked.

"The one who poisons the hearts of our people." He answered. "Power, wisdom, and courage united by sacrificial love. This is the practice of our faith, young prince. The faith of our ancestors was in allowing each person to choose his own path and destiny without interference or enslavement. This is why the goddesses created the Triforce, so that we would have the means to remain free to choose or reject them of our own free will. The Demon King never understood that, and neither did his 'descendents'. The enemy of our people is always the one who brings the Triforce out of balance in order to force others to his will."

"Our brothers of Eastern Hyrule are not our enemies." John said. "I don't want to shed their blood any more than I want to shed my brother's blood. I don't want this war."

"Then put a stop to it." The shadow said.

John had been asking himself that question for two days. It had been his plan, but the closer he came, the more he doubted it. "How?" He asked in frustration. "It is a task now that even the goddesses would find difficult. I carry my father's sword, but I am but a poor imitation. I do not carry the Triforce as my father and aunt did." John replied.

"No one can use a part of the Triforce unless that virtue already exists within him. The power of the Triforce resides within the faith of the one who believes in it. Find this faith within yourself, and the power of the Triforce will be yours." The shade told him.

John nodded, trying to understand. "I am not my father, but I am my father's son. He gave his life for our people and our land, I am prepared to do no less."

John then found himself frozen in place as the shade approached him to gently place his palm on John's forehead. There was a brief flash of light, and the shade was gone. On the wind, John could still hear the shadow's voice, "You have taken your rightful place, my son. Receive my blessing and go; be the Hero Hyrule needs."

As John unfroze he looked down at himself and found that his royal traveling clothes had been exchanged for the same chain mail, leather gauntlets, and dark green tunic which the shadow had worn. On his head was a long green cap, the end of which fell behind his back. On his back, covering the Master Sword's sapphire scabbard there materialized an antique shield bearing the Triforce crest of the royal family. He recognized the garments and dress from his mother's pictures and stories of his father, and his eyes watered with tears.

"Goodbye, father." John whispered into the wind, as a single tear fell from his eye.

Chapter 6

The troop transports landed the next day at dawn. Daniel, Rodney, and John watched unseen from their vantage point on the beach hill for hours as thousands of men unloaded from tens of ships onto the beach to set up camp. It wasn't just men either. Horses, cannons, and other heavy weaponry were rolled off the boat ramps under the standard of Eastern Hyrule. Not far off in the distance, the Town of Mido was just awakening to their new reality.

"What are we going to do?" Rodney asked. "There's too many of them. No, what am I saying. There's more than way too many of them. Not for just the three of us. There's no chance. What were we thinking?"

Daniel shot Rodney a look, as John just continued to stare at the unloading men. John, not taking his eyes off of the troops in front of him, then said, "We didn't come here to fight the Eastern legions. We came here to stop the fighting before it starts."

"And how did you propose to do that? Just go down and politely ask them to leave?" Rodney asked sarcastically.

"That's a great idea, Dr. McKay." John said, unsheathing the Master Sword and taking his shield on his right arm. He then strode confidently down the hill towards the waiting soldiers.

"Oh god, what is he doing? Is he insane?" Rodney asked, panicking.

"No," Daniel answered, "He's doing what his father would do."

"Oh crap, he is crazy then." Rodney retorted, as he watched the younger man stride purposefully, sword in hand, to meet the thousands of Eastern soldiers that had landed with artillery and cavalry horses on the beach of Western Hyrule.

A horn blew in the camp. "He's been seen." Daniel said.

"Of course he's been seen!" Rodney said. "He's practically holding up a sign which says 'shoot me, I'm a lunatic!'"

Shouts went through the camp as the strange, green-clad figure came closer and closer. "It's the Hero!" Many of the blue uniformed soldiers shouted. "That's impossible, the Hero's dead!" Others shouted. "It looks like Prince Talon!" Still others said.

Talon was on the beach with his men when the report of the strange figure spread through the camp. Alarmed, he practically yelled, "Arrest the imposter!" Sending a guard captain and a small squad of men to carry out his orders.

As the squad of soldiers approached, John stopped assumed a fighting stance and held his ground. He then shouted out loud so the whole camp of thousands could hear him, "If protecting this land means donning our father's tunic, and taking up his sword and shield to stand against you and your army alone on the battlefield then so be it, brother. I am John, son of Link, crown prince of Hyrule, and I will defend this land and her people with my last breath." He was hoping against hope to bring his brother back to his senses with the display, reminding him of their mutual heritage. If we do this, my brother, he thought to himself, it won't be the blood of monsters the Master Sword spills, but the precious blood of fellow Hylians.

"The sword chose you." Talon said slowly, anger building in his voice. "Just like the Sages. Just like mother." He then called out in response. "Stand against me and the whole of the East by yourself if you wish, brother. Father's old clothes and rusty sword won't keep me from what is rightfully mine. We will be sure however to give you a proper burial as befits a prince of Hyrule."

John looked at the massed soldiers in front of him. He heard the murmuring of the troops at his brother's flippant response. He glimpsed the hesitation in their eyes at the sudden appearance of the Crown Prince wearing the Hero's tunic and wielding the sacred blade of evil's bane; the sword which answered to one man alone, the Hero of Hyrule. Among them, several hands went to pendants hidden under uniforms and chain-mail, and he could see the glints of gold as the men sought strength and guidance for the choice they were being forced to make.

John then called out to the legion of soldiers standing between himself and his brother and said, "Soldiers of Hyrule, hear me! See the sword I carry, the Master Sword of legend which has ever only answered to one man alone in all the ages of Hyrule past, my father, the Hero of Hyrule. See now that the sword of the goddess Hylia now answers to me and me alone. If I must fight you, I do so in the name of my father and the goddesses who forged this land. I do so to preserve a future and a hope for all of Hyrule's people just as my father did in every age of this land since the beginning. I don't want good, faithful Hylian blood to stain this Sacred blade or to be spilled on Hyrule's sacred ground. This quarrel is between my brother and I alone. Stand aside and let my brother and I resolve our dispute like men, and let all sons of Hyrule be at peace with one another." John waited, holding his breath for their answer.

The soldiers, armored and armed with blades and rifles alike, looked to one another and then to their green clad prince before them, the choice being laid plainly before them. Among the ranks cries of "Hold your positions!" "Stand down!" and "The prince has given his orders!" could be heard from the officers. And then all of the Eastern soldiers, to a man, lowered their weapons and stood aside, creating a path for him directly to his brother.

"I don't believe it." Rodney said, watching the whole thing. "They're letting him through. His plan's actually working!"

"Never underestimate the power of faith." Daniel commented.

"I guess not!" Rodney agreed, stunned at what he was seeing.

The squad of men sent to arrest him stopped in front of him. "As you say, your highness," the Guard Captain closest to John said, "It's a quarrel between you and Prince Talon." He then saluted John, and then turning to give a crisp salute to Talon, he stepped aside and let John pass.

John strode purposefully to the confrontation he did not want with his twin brother, ranks of Hylian men saluting him grimly as he passed by.

"How dare you wear our father's clothes!" Talon screamed at his brother as he approached. "You who poisoned our mother! She lies near death because of you, while you prance around pretending to be the Hero!"

"I swear to you on the Sacred Triforce itself, I have done nothing to harm our mother." John responded loudly as he drew nearer to his brother. "The poison was not administered by me or anyone from the Royal Castle, Talon."

"He lies, my prince!" Grima shouted. "He lies! He intends to take the throne over your mother's grave and bury you next to her!"

"Talon, look at me!" John cried out, drawing near and nearer to his brother. "Look at me, my brother. Look into my eyes and know the truth. I have never lied to you. I could not lie to you. You know my very heart and mind as if they were your own. We are two halves of the same person, are we not?"

"No," Talon paused, "No, my brother would never lie to me." He said, almost as if in a daze.

"Who's to say this man is even your brother, your highness? Are there no shape-shifters in your land?" Grima shouted, almost desperately. "Whoever this imposter is, he is no family of yours!"

"No family of mine..." Talon repeated, slurring his words. "Yes, imposter, you are no family of mine!"

"Look at my sword, brother. The Master Sword would never allow herself to be handled by any other but the chosen Hero or the Princess Zelda. No imposter could touch it." John tried to reason with him as he came to stand in front of his brother.

Talon drew his own sword. "A clever forgery, imposter." He said with malice, and charged John with his own dark blade.

John parried and jumped back.

"I was trained by my father, the Hero of Hyrule himself as a boy, imposter." Talon warned him. "You will face justice." He then struck with a flurry of slashing blows, all of which John caught and turned back, but he held back.

"I don't want to hurt you, my brother, please. Let's stop this madness now. There is only one death that is necessary today." John pleaded with him as the two blades clashed and sang their deadly duet.

"Yes, only one death! Yours!" Talon shouted. The two swordsmen moved like lightning back and forth across the sand, faster than the eyes of the men who watched the conflict could follow, but John refused to go on the offense. He had fought his brother frequently in mock swordplay as a child, and later in life during private sparring times as friends and equals. He instinctively knew his brother's every movement. They were so evenly matched through their lives that neither had ever been able to defeat the other. That was never the point of their sparring. John knew going on the offense would help no one and nothing now.

"Come now, _brother_," Talon spat the word sarcastically, "if you really are my brother, why don't you press your attack? As you said, only one needs to die today."

"No." John shouted, then avoided his brother's spin attack.

"There can only be one rightful heir! I am the oldest! It should go to me, and you know it!" Talon shouted at him, cackling as though drunk.

"I never wanted it!" John responded. "I never wanted the throne! The decision wasn't mine to make, nor was it yours!"

"No, the thrice-damned Sages took my birthright from me instead, didn't they?" Talon yelled back.

John then stopped, deflected his brother's blow on his shield forcing talon backwards, and shouted, "Then I give it back to you brother. Let the Master Sword decide between us who is truly the Hero's heir!" And he turned his sword around in his hands and offered the hilt to the enraged man in front of him. "Take it brother, and may the goddesses judge between you and I."

Talon stopped dead in his tracks, unsure of what to do. "You would offer me our father's sword?" He asked in disbelief.

"If I am an imposter, and this a forgery, then run me through and save our land. If I am truly your brother, and this is truly the Sacred Blade, then let the goddesses decide between us. Take the hilt, my brother." John said, pouring as much sincerity into his voice as possible. He meant what he said, and now it was Fi's choice to make. If he was wrong, it would be his last moments and he knew it.

"What is he doing?" Rodney panicked as he watched John's offer helplessly. "Oh crap, they're identical twins. They've got the same DNA, the sword's going to think it's the same man. We've got to stop him!" He began to jump up when Daniel pulled him back down before he was seen by anyone else.

"Some things you've just got to take on faith, Rodney!" Daniel told him, trying to keep him from interfering. It was John's choice, and Daniel somehow knew that he had to be given the freedom to make it.

"What?!" Rodney exclaimed, "This isn't about some pie in th sky mumbo jumbo! The sword's A.I. is a computer program, Jackson! Fundamentally it understands ones and zeros. Either something is, or it is not. Talon's DNA is the same as John's, ergo once Talon takes that sword, Fi's going to say, 'Hi John, happy to see you!' and Talon's going to happily take off John's head with it!"

"It's too late anyway, look!" Daniel said, pointing to the scene in front of them.

Warily, Talon approached his brother, and extended his left hand to take the sapphire hilt. It felt warm from his brother's grip, but also like it had been made for his hand. He held the blade up, pointing it to the sky, and said, "Now indeed, let the gods judge between us truly."

The air around the blade began to crackle with energy which built up in the blade's metal as a white glowing charge, and the hilt began to grow hotter and hotter, until it became unbearably hot, but Talon could not let the sword go! A strange woman's voice rang out loudly and strongly, "Recognition rejected! Identity unrecognized!"

"I am Talon, son of Link!" Talon cried out to the disembodied voice! "I am the rightful heir of Hyrule!"

"Imposter." The voice said with a deadly calm, and a great surge of energy rushed from the blade, through the hilt and into Talon's sword arm which erupted into white hot flames. The smell of burnt flesh filled the air as his screams were heard all around the beach. His fingers melted and burned away under the heat, and the sword finally fell from his grasp and buried its blade in the beach sand. Talon fell to the ground unconscious from the pain. His left arm destroyed into a ruined, blackened flesh and bone stump unable to ever wield a sword, or anything, ever again.

"I don't believe it." Rodney said. Daniel stayed silent, not wishing to destroy the sanctity of the moment.

"The Master Sword has judged between us brother." John whispered softly to his brother's unconscious form, as his own fingers closed around the sapphire hilt. "And she has found you unworthy. Be glad that she has chosen to spare your life for your crimes against Hyrule."

John then took the hilt of the sword again and turned to the silver haired old man who stood nearby watching the duel intently. He was strangely smiling at John, an evil glint in his eyes.

"Hey Danny, doesn't that old man look familiar?" Rodney asked, gesturing to Grima as John stood before him, sword in hand.

Daniel focused his eyes on the silver bearded and haired gentleman. "Yeah he does, doesn't he; a lot like..."

Rodney picked up it up from there, "I mean he's not exactly Christopher Lee, but he's pretty darn close. He's the exact description in the book."

"Yeah, the question is..." Daniel started.

"How?" Rodney finished. "I mean, he's supposed to be..."

"Dead in Hobbiton under a waterwheel. Yeah I know Rodney. I read the book too." Daniel finished, and then began to think hard and out loud on what he was seeing. "He was one of the five wizards of Middle Earth, right? The Istari. They were Ainur, ascended beings, who took the forms of old men in order to guide mankind, right?" Daniel asked, thinking out loud.

"Yeah, so when he died... Oh no." Rodney thought it through. "But then why did he retake human form?"

"Maybe the Others in Middle Earth wouldn't allow him back." Daniel said, his mind whirring quickly.

"And so he retook mortal form as a wizard. Oh crap, John doesn't know what he's up against." Rodney said. "He's dead."

"No. I don't think so." Daniel said, watching the scene in front of him, his left hand going to the triangle shape under his shirt.

In the distance, John stood in front of his enemy, sword and shield in his hands. His brother Talon lay unconscious and unresponsive to his side and behind him as John stepped between he and the old man.

"You have no idea who or what I am, do you boy?" Grima's eyes flashed and crackled with power. "With a word I could strike you down and scatter your ashes to the four winds. Why throw your life away needlessly? Bow to me as your god!"

"I will stand against you with my last breath." John told him, disgusted. "You are not welcome here, wizard."

"Wizard," The old man responded. "How quaint; an archaic title from a backwards people. I am so much more than that." Grima raised his hands and lightning struck the ground around them. The smell of ionized air filled the beach around them. Great winds rose in vortices across the water behind him. "You're out of your league, boy." The wizard then raised his hand and began to point a finger at John. "Even if you succeeded in striking me down with that blade, I would become more powerful than you could possibly imagine. I would continue to come back and haunt you and your descendants forever."

Daniel watching all of this saw and knew that the time had come. "Great goddesses," He called out, gripping the Triforce pendant tightly in his hand and focusing all of his faith on this one prayer. "I wish that Grima Saruman would be made completely mortal and his power taken from him!" The triangle on Daniel's hand lit up with a bright golden light.

"Danny, what the...?!" Rodney exclaimed in surprise.

Immediately there was a great flash of light and the skies above them shook. Then the vortices died, and the lightning ceased. And it was terror, not power which flashed in his eyes. "Noooo!" He shouted. "That's impossible!" And fell to his knees in front of John.

"Nothing is impossible for those who have faith, traitor." John said. "I, John, son of Link, crown prince of Hyrule judge you in the name of the goddess Hylia for the crimes of treason, murder of royal ministers, and the attempted murder of her royal majesty, my mother, and her other royal ministers. The sentence is death. Hyrule will not go back to the cycle of chaos ever again." And with that, John swung the Blade of Evil's bane and Grima's head fell from his shoulders. His body fell over, jerked involuntarily and lay still. It did not disappear into energy. It simply lay there, bleeding on the beach.

"You had one the whole time?!" Rodney accused Daniel in a barely contained whisper. "Son of a..."

"Not now, Rodney! This isn't the time!" Daniel shot back.

John then turned to face the legions of blue uniformed men standing watching with awe on the beach. He raised the Master Sword skyward and it began to glow with a pure, divine light. He then shouted with authority to the men, "In the name of the goddesses of creation, Din, Nayru, and Farore, and the Lady Hylia I order you to disarm and stand down!" A bolt of lightning struck the sand of the beach as he pronounced each divine name.

Rodney looked at Daniel questioningly. Daniel then told him, "Don't look at me, I didn't do it."

The men in front of him looked with amazement and confusion at the sight, still gripping their weapons. Some called out to their captains, "What do we do?"

John then pointed the tip of the blade at the beach in front of them and shouted again, louder, "DISARM AND STAND DOWN!" And a wave of pure light hit the ground and the whole earth trembled underneath them.

All over the beach could be heard the sound of rifles, swords, and shields hitting the soft sand as the men soon joined their weapons, falling to their knees before their rightful prince. It was over.

It was night in Hyrule Castle as the queen's maids kept watch over their beloved monarch in her private bedchambers. Castle Guard lined the hall outside the chambers, and no less than six stood watch inside, their hearts heavy with sorrow as they were forced to watch Malon's deathly sleep, yet always hoping for a miracle.

The room remained dimly lit. The queen had been laid out on her bed, dressed with respect comfortably in a modest nightgown. Her flame colored hair, now flecked with thin streaks of silver had been brushed and lay flat beneath her. She appeared as though she could awaken at any moment, yet all present knew she had been asleep for days.

In the shadows, a dark figure watched the scene with concern. He had been watching over her for a long time. He moved out of the shadows to stand by her bed. None of the others in the room reacted to his presence. It wasn't strange to him, he didn't want them to know he was there.

He bent over her sleeping form, and said gently, "Malon, my love. You will join me one day, this I promise. But it is not this day. It is time for you to wake up." He then bent down and gently pressed his shadowy lips to hers.

Time stood still as Malon's eyes slowly blinked open, and the first thing she saw was the radiant, shining, smiling face of her husband. "Link?" She asked. "My husband?"

"I am here my love." He answered gently, looking down on her with love in his eyes.

"Will you stay with me?" She asked.

"I am always watching over you. Even when you can't see me, I am with you always." The ascended being answered her.

Time sped up again as she moved her head from side to side. "My lady!" One of her maids cried out, and her bed was mobbed by her maids and guards. "Your majesty, you're awake!"

"Yes, I..." She then looked around. "What are you all doing in my chambers?" She asked in confusion.

"Our apologies your majesty, we have been keeping watch over you as you slept." One of the guardsmen told her, relief flooding his voice.

"As I slept?" She asked. "How long have I been asleep?"

"Three days, your majesty." One of the maids responded. "We were terrified you might never wake up."

"I might..." She sat up and looked around the room for the face she first saw. And there he was, shining with a soft golden light around him. He held up his hand to his mouth and blew her a kiss, and then vanished. She nodded in silent acknowledgment.

"What has happened?" She asked those around her. "Where is my son, and... and Oliver?"

Oliver's three legions arrived at the landing beach near Mido Town the next morning to find John in complete and total control over a disarmed Eastern army. The Supreme Commander almost couldn't believe what his eyes were telling him through his field telescope. He still couldn't believe it when his scouts returned confirming the sight. Only when he had marched onto the beach himself and saw all the blue uniformed men snap to attention in formation at his arrival did the reality of the situation become clear.

Most of their weapons had been voluntarily stored in an armory tent, with a few exceptions.

Talon lay unconscious in a healer's tent under heavy guard, being treated for the severe damage to his arm by a field medic the best the medic could do.

Rodney and Daniel assisted John wherever they could, but there wasn't much they needed to do. Once the soldiers had surrendered to the prince, they had reaffirmed their oaths of loyalty to the Queen and the Hylian royal family. Most of them had been much relieved and took them once again gladly.

Chapter 7

The gathering in the Temple of Time was grim and solemn. Two weeks had passed since the events on the beach. All the present Sages of Hyrule had been called together to render a decision on the fate of the young, crippled man who stood silently before them in the timeless sacred place. Chief among them were the Sage of Wind and the Sage of Earth whom he had personally targeted. The only others allowed to be present were his brother, the crown prince, and Queen Malon herself, recently recovered from the poison which had nearly killed her. In the background, the Master Sword rested once again in its pedestal, its own mission accomplished. The last time he had stood in a great temple of Hyrule, the throne had been denied him. Today, he would learn if his life would be as well.

"Talon, former prince regent of Eastern Hyrule," Aurina, the Sage of Light emphasized the word _former_, began to say, "You have been judged guilty of atrocious crimes against the Sages of Hyrule, and against the gods themselves in the destruction of their temples."

The Queen and the Crown Prince stood by in stony silence as witnesses only. Malon's son was not the cause of her poisoning, as they had come to learn, and there was good reason to believe he had been under the sorcerous influence of his former adviser in those crimes against her person and her government, which adviser had already been judged and publicly executed by the Crown Prince. But she had no authority to pardon his crimes against the divine, nor would she claim any right to it.

"You have accused us of manipulating the royal succession for our own personal gain, and in your ignorance of who we are and what our role in this world is, sought to subject us to your 'justice.'" Aurina continued.

"The future of Hyrule's monarchy shouldn't be determined by her Sages! What right do the Sages have to shape Hyrule for their own purposes!" Talon said bitterly.

The feminine, silver haired Sage of Spirit spoke. "You show your ignorance with every word you speak. For millenia, the Sages were unknown and largely forgotten by the people of this world. As our brothers and sisters from ages past would testify were they brought here by the Sage of Time, our only purpose has been our devotion to the gods we serve and to guard the Sacred Realm. We did not ask to be made widely known to the people. This was the decision of the royal family. We did not ask to intervene in the selection of the royal heir. We did so at the request of her majesty, inquiring of Hyrule's divinities to let us know their choice. All people in Hyrule must be free to make their own choice to follow the pathways of our ancestral gods or not. We do not interfere with that decision."

"So, then who are you to pass judgment on me? Isn't that interfering as well?" Talon asked, mocking.

"We have only told you the verdict. We are not your judges." The Sage of Wind informed him gravely.

"Who then?" Talon asked, confused and looking to his mother and brother. They sadly shook their heads.

"We are." A familiar, resonating voice filled the great hall of the temple. It was a voice Talon had not heard in a very long time. Two swirling clouds of light materialized within the great hall and took forms he had never thought to see again. One was a young Hylian woman in a pink dress with long flowing blond hair and blue eyes. The other was a young man, almost identical to himself, dressed in a green tunic and chain mail. They both were radiant with a celestial light.

At their appearance all of the sages dropped to one knee. Queen Malon, and Prince John followed suit. "Lady Hylia." Aurina said, addressing the glowing lady, and then to the man, "Lord Hero."

"Father?" Talon asked, his mocking tone and flippancy melting away.

The Hero looked at his son sternly with disapproval. Talon flinched and dropped his eyes, sinking to his knees in despair. "I... I... I didn't..." He began to stammer, tears forming in his eyes.

"You didn't listen to me." The Hero spoke, his voice echoing hard around the chamber. "You could not recognize me when I spoke to you though you were right in front of me."

"You have been judged guilty of crimes worthy of death." The Lady Hylia affirmed for him again, her own voice striking like musical daggers through his heart. "The dark poison of ambition, arrogance, and pride still runs through your heart, your prince. We cannot allow you to continue to walk freely in this world until it dies of its own accord, or else we risk restarting the same cycle of destruction which had only recently ended."

"Let me die then." Talon said in despair, his will broken under his father's gaze.

"In spite of your crimes," Hylia continued, "we understand that had the sorcerer from Middle Earth not influenced you, none of this would have happened." She then looked at the Hero, who nodded in unspoken agreement with her. "We therefore banish you from setting foot in Hyrule ever again until you understand the foolishness of your accusations against the Sages, and the gravity of your actions."

"To where am I to be banished, my Lady?" Talon asked, wondering if he was to leave Hyrule with the two men from Earth he had heard of.

"Right here." The Hero responded for her. "My son, you will not re-enter normal time outside of this temple until you have proved yourself worthy. If you attempt it, you will die."

"The Temple is to be my prison?" Talon asked, confused. "For eternity?"

"It is to be your refuge, and your penance." Hylia replied. She then moved towards him and touched his forehead with her finger, "Awaken, Sage of Time!" There was a brilliant flash of light, and then it was done. With him Talon felt his awareness expanding as he saw the past, present, and future come together as one. In his mind's eye he could see all the Sages that ever lived. He could see the many lifetimes that his father and aunt had lived, and all the trials and dangers they had suffered through. He could see the Demon King in the distant past and the recent present, and he was ashamed of how badly mistaken he had been.

"Since you have shown such ignorance of the Sages, my nephew, you will now spend eternity learning what it means to be my Sage. You will answer directly to me." The Lady Hylia declared.

Talon was overwhelmed with shame and grief, and couldn't speak for several minutes. When he finally could, he bowed his head, and with a gravelly voice he said, "Yes, my lady."

"Take your place among your brethren." Hylia commanded, directing him to join the other Sages. "You have much to learn from them."

Talon meekly moved to join them. They did not welcome him among their ranks, but neither would they deny him his new found place. "I have much to atone for." He said. No one argued.

Hylia then turned to the Hero and said gently, "Speak with her." The Hero nodded and then motioned for Malon to join him a distance away from the ears of the others. She rose and followed him, leaving John by himself.

Hylia then turned to John and spoke to him privately. "You have done well, my nephew."

"Thank you, my Lady." John responded with his head bowed, not daring to look into her eyes.

"You must now forgive and leave your anger behind you." She told him, seeing into his heart. "Your brother has suffered the consequences of his actions, and now pays the price for his betrayal. It may not seem like punishment to you, but through the lens of time he is already finding the burden almost more than he can bear. Justice can never be without compassion, Crown Prince. Justice without Compassion is not justice, but vengeance. You must understand this if you are to sit on the throne when your mother is passed."

John nodded. "I understand." He told her.

While Hylia spoke with John, the Hero spoke with the prince's mother.

"It seems you are continually saying goodbye to me." Malon told him. "Perhaps you should just return with me, and we would not have to say goodbye." She said playfully, but there was a glimmer of hopefulness in her eyes.

The Hero looked at her sadly and said, "My time in mortal form has been done for some time now. I cannot stay with you. You must live your life, Malon. Mine in this world is over."

"I have no one else. I miss you terribly." She told him, her own eyes welling with tears. "Please don't leave me again."

"Oliver is a good man." The Hero told her. "He has forsaken all others for twenty years to be by your side, and to be a father where I could not. But for this crisis, he wouldn't have left your side when you had fallen to the poison."

"He's not the man I need." She told him angrily.

"Only because you won't let him be." He replied gently.

"I don't want to." She responded. "I can't." She almost pleaded with him. "I can't let you go."

"You must. You are the Queen. John, Oliver, and all of Hyrule cannot move forward until you do." He said.

"I didn't want this. I didn't want to be the Queen. I have only done what I could to keep you with me." She told him.

"I am always watching over you, my love, but I am already gone. I cannot love you in the way you need. But there is one who can. Allow yourself to return his love. Allow yourself to heal."

She wept. "I really couldn't keep you, could I? No matter how hard I tried fate was always against me, wasn't it?"

"My fate was written millenia before you were born. Your fate is what you choose it to be." The Hero said. "Choose well, my love. You will not see me again."

He then left her there and moved to join Hylia and faced his son, John, still dropped to one knee in homage.

"Rise, my son." The Hero told him.

John lifted his head and obeyed, facing his father he looked into his eyes and saw pride written in them.

"You have proven yourself worthy of the title Hero, and have justified our decision to name you heir to the throne with your actions and willingness to sacrifice yourself to prevent the slaughter of thousands of our people." The Hero said. "You have combined wisdom and courage within yourself and have shown the power to act on them. You have also demonstrated your great humility in returning the Master Sword to its resting place. If you should ever have need of her again, Fi will be at your disposal. The Lady Hylia and I have seen to it. From henceforth, in times of great crisis, she will answer only to you and your descendants whom we deem worthy. Do not abuse this gift of ours."

"I won't, father." John responded solemnly.

"Rule well and protect our people, my son." The Hero said. "We now take our leave. We are always watching, but your choices will always be yours to make along with their consequences. Remember that well, my son." And then their radiant forms collapsed again into balls of pure light, and they were gone.

Daniel wandered by himself around Castle Town's marketplace. He wanted some time by himself to just study and make notes of Hyrule's culture and people without the fate of a world hanging in the balance. He decided it wasn't as different from other descendants of Ancient settlements as he had first thought it would be.

As he passed by the fountain of the central square, he noticed a small sign hanging over the entryway of a storefront tucked away off into the corner of a building. The sign held a worn symbol of the Triforce, but no wording that he could discern. Thinking this was odd, he meandered over to investigate. No one else seemed to notice the shop was there as he turned the doorknob, found it unlocked, opened the door and walked inside.

Inside, the old decrepit shop held displays of jewelry on its wooden shelves, most notably gold Triforce pendants as he looked around. "Hello?" He called out.

A handsome, middle aged woman with long blond hair flecked with silver streaks in a blue dress came walking out from a back room. Near her right shoulder was pinned a simple brooch shaped like a golden triangle.

"Hi, I saw your sign outside, and I was just curious..." Daniel started to try to explain, then he looked into the woman's deep blue eyes. They were blue like the vast ocean. "I know you." He said.

"Yes, you do." She said, smiling. "You have done well, brother."

"Thanks, I think." Daniel responded.

"It is almost time for you and your friend to return home, to your own time and place. You have had the power to do so since we first met in Nabooru Town." The woman said.

"Yeah, I was wondering about that. If Rodney and I go home, what's to stop us from using the Triforce to repair Hyrule's?" He asked.

"Nothing." She answered with a smile.

"And then there will be three complete Triforces in our world." Daniel continued.

"Yes, there will." She confirmed for him. "Do you believe your people to be capable of handling the responsibility such power brings?"

Daniel didn't have to hesitate. "Not all of them. No. In fact it would be best if there wasn't a Triforce at all on Earth. The Others in our world are more than capable of policing there own and enforcing non-interference. We don't need to defend ourselves like that now. I know that first hand."

"Yes," She said. "When we first came to this reality, there were so very few of us, not really enough for a colony. We had only intended to conduct our research on the connections between faith and reality away from less approving eyes. We were already pre-ascendant then, though. This world was beautiful when we arrived." Her eyes sparkled at the memory. "Our children think we created it, but of course we didn't. We only tweaked it here and there."

"Why do you keep calling them your children?" Daniel asked.

"Because they are!" She said happily. "All the inhabitants of Hyrule are our children! I told you, there weren't enough of us to form a sustainable colony. There was myself, Din, Farore, Demise, my daughter Hylia, Farore's son Copulus and only a handful of others. We completed our research, but then found Atlantis under bombardment by the wraith. There was little point in all of us returning home permanently now was there? We eventually ascended here, but the world seemed so empty and so ripe for civilization and sentient beings. We engineered these people, especially the Hylians, but also the Zoras, the Gorons, the Gerudos, the Ordonians, the Minish, and all the rest to fill it with intelligent life."

Her smile faded as she continued her story, "That was just before Demise began to crave their worship. My daughter Hylia fought him on our own plane, and then the fight came into this mortal world and nearly destroyed it. He had grown so powerful from the faith of his followers that it took all of us to seal him away, but the seal would not last forever, and we knew it. That was when we put our research to use here and created the Triforce so that the unascended would have a way to defend themselves against him and any others like him. But Hylia, my daughter, was afraid that wouldn't be enough once he broke free, so she surrendered herself to mortal Hylian form to watch over the seal, and be ready to use the Triforce herself if it became a necessity. As a Hylian, she could ascend again once her body died."

"What about the Hero?" Daniel asked her.

"Copulus, Farore's son, watched over Hylia in her mortal form for centuries. She seemed so fragile, he feared that she wouldn't be strong enough on her own. After a time, he chose to be born as a Hylian as well to defend her and keep Demise restrained. He became our back-up plan, if you will. As often as they came close to death and ascended, they continued to take mortal Hylian form on their own so that Demise could never fully return."

"Copulus." Daniel said, thinking. Then it clicked. "Copulus is the Ancient word for 'Link.'"

Nayru nodded. "That boy lived many, many lifetimes, being born, dying, ascending, and then returning to protect my daughter and this world. After so many times, I shudder to think at what the horrors he has had to face over the millennia have done to him. He was free to not return. It was always his choice, as it was my daughter's. Thanks to your people, they have finally been set free from their vigil."

Daniel stood silent, contemplating the great sacrifices that the two had made to protect this world over its ten thousand year history. It was unimaginable to him, and yet Link had never left Zelda behind. Not once. "Wow." Was all he could say at the thought.

"And now we must go, and so must you, Daniel Jackson. I meant what I said about your returning to walk among us once again when the time was right. If the Others in your reality do not welcome you home, know that you will always be welcome here with us." She said.

"Thank you. That means something to me." He said in response. He then took off his glasses to clean them, and when he put them back on the shop was empty. Its dusty shelves hadn't been used for a long, long time.

"Good-bye then." He said with a half smile.

The sun had set in Hyrule, and once again, Oliver sat quietly in the pew of the chapel, watching over his queen as she prayed. They had not spoken the entire day since she had returned from the Sacred Grove. He had spoken with John, but the crown prince would not discuss what had transpired in the Temple of Time. Oliver only knew that John's brother Talon had not returned with them. To be honest, he had not expected the prince to.

"I know you are there, Oliver." The queen said, not getting up or turning to see him.

Uncomfortable and apologetic, "I'm sorry for disturbing you, your majesty, I'll go." Oliver said, getting up.

"No, don't go." She said, rising and turning to face him. She walked up to him and took his hands in hers. "I knew you were there, because you're always there. You've always been there, never far from my side."

"I am your servant, my queen." Oliver said, humbly.

"You have been much, much more than that, my friend." She said. She looked into his eyes in a way she had never allowed herself to do before, smiled and asked him, "Do you love me, Oliver?"

Oliver took a step back, unsure of himself and dizzy from the question. "I... I..." He stammered. "You will always be my queen, your majesty."

"That is not an answer, Oliver. I am asking you, not as your queen, but as a woman, and your friend. Do you love me?" She pressed him.

"I cannot... Your husband..." He didn't know how to answer her. His heart and mind warred against each other as the portrait of the Hero stared at him from its alcove. "I made a promise to him, to care for you and the boys." He managed to say.

"I spoke to him, Oliver, in the Temple of Time, or rather he spoke to me. The Hero is always with us, but my husband has been gone for twenty years. Perhaps it is time that we both stopped confusing the two. " Malon told him, squeezing his hands. "We both must let go of the past in order to gain a future that is our own. Oliver, I ask you again, do you love me?"

There was a hopefulness in her eyes as he lost himself in them. It was a hopefulness he hadn't seen in a long time. And there was something else, something he himself had never allowed himself to hope for, an affection meant only for him. He wrestled with himself and two decades of careful, practiced restraint. She waited for his answer.

He took her hands in his, and brought them both to his lips and kissed her fingers, "My queen, do you even have to ask?" He finally replied.

She moved even closer to him, and in the shadows of the candlelight, under the blessing of Hyrule's guardian deities, they kissed, truly kissed for the first time. Unseen and unnoticed, a dark figure in the shadows, seemingly made of shadow, watched with approval, and smiled before fading away to join the Others who were waiting for him.

Epilogue

Rodney was almost singing the day after he and Daniel returned to their own time and place as he made his way back to the lab which had started their whole recent adventure. They had spent a total of about two weeks in Hyrule and had returned only minutes after they had left.

He was in such a good mood as he strolled down the corridors, he hadn't even criticized Zelenka for anything that morning. He now had not only the broken Triforce to work with, but also two, count them, two complete Triforces capable of doing anything he sincerely wished for.

He rounded a corner and waved his hand in front of the lab's door to open it and enter the room. As he almost danced into the room, his mood immediately changed.

"Where is it?" He asked the air, because there was no one else there to ask. Much to his dismay, the Triforce emblem which had been embedded into the wall was gone. He immediately went to work feeling all over the wall with his hands, even wishing fervently to find the Triforce as he touched the spot where he knew it should have been. Nothing.

"Where's Jackson?" He asked, beginning to grow suspicious. He touched his earpiece, "McKay to Jackson, where are you at?"

"Good morning, Rodney. I'm eating breakfast in the cafeteria." Came Daniel's reply. "Where are you?"

"I'm in the Triforce lab, and there's something very important missing from the wall." Rodney said, his ire growing.

"Are you sure you're in the right lab?" Daniel asked. "There's a lot of labs and rooms in this city. Are you sure you didn't get turned around?"

"What?! Of course I'm in the right lab, I mean, I... yeah, I'm positive..." Rodney then began to doubt himself. "I'll get back to you on that." He said. Well, it could be possible, he thought. I could have gotten turned around maybe. He then went to retrace his steps and make certain.

"You know, he's going to eventually figure it out." Colonel Shepherd told Daniel as he sipped his coffee across the table from him. They had agreed to meet for breakfast late last night to talk over the mutual responsibility they held.

"Maybe, but I made a very specific wish." Daniel responded. "Speaking of which, are you sure you're okay with this. It was entrusted to you."

"I never wanted it. It's too much power to be given to any one person. That's the reason why Hyrule had all the wars it did, even without Demise's influence. Can you imagine what would happen here on Earth. We've got enough of our own problems. No, just fix it and send it back to where it belongs." Shepherd told him. "Lock it away in the Sacred Realm where no one will be able to touch it."

Daniel reached into his shirt with his left hand to touch his gold pendant. There was a quick flash of light all around him which no one else seemed to notice. Then the triangle "tattoo" which had been imprinted on Shepherd's hand changed as he watched it. The three triangles, the topmost of which had been black for the last year, the two which formed the base gold, began to shine with light. And then the black one changed slowly until it shone bright gold. Then, the tattoo faded and disappeared. Shepherd looked at his hand until it was gone completely, and then nodded at Daniel. "Now, what about the necklace?"

Daniel took the gold chain and triangle pendant off from around his neck and, holding it in his hand, closed his eyes. There was another flash of light, and the pendant disappeared completely as though it was never there.

"That's done then." Shepherd said. "Where'd you send that one?" He asked.

"Back to the nice old lady who gave it to me." Daniel responded, taking a sip of his own coffee. "It was only a loaner anyway."

"So, back to business as usual then?" Shepherd asked.

"Yep. Just as it should be." Daniel replied. "Nothing unusual ever going on here."

"Nope." Shepherd agreed. "How long is Rodney going to search for that lab?"

"Oh, just for a few more hours until he completely forgets where it was. He won't find any reference to it in the database again either." Daniel said.

"Nice." Shepherd nodded approvingly. "So, was Malon doing okay by the time you left?"

"Yeah, I think they're all going to be just fine, now." Daniel replied.

"So, tell me about how Link's family is doing. I've got all the time in the world today." Shepherd said.

The End


End file.
